Yuba City blasted by Inderkum, but playoff hopes alive

It took the Yuba City Honkers the entire first half before they figured out how to stop the Inderkum Tigers Friday night at Honker Stadium.

In the second half, the Honkers went toe-to-toe with the No. 3 team in the Sacramento area.

While the final score went in favor of the front-runners in the Tri-County Conference 42-14, the Honkers left the home field for the final time this season with their heads held high and a chance for a playoff spot still within reach.

"We just have to win our final two games, and we should be in," said Yuba City head coach John Ithurburn.

As for the loss to Inderkum, Ithurburn was able to find some positives which he believes will help his squad in the final two games on the road at Pioneer and River Valley.

"We came together in the second half, and the kids learned they can play with a team as good as Inderkum," Ithurburn said. "One of our goals for the game was to play four full quarters regardless of the score. We came out in the second half despite being down and played hard to the end."

Like they have done to every team all year, the Tigers began the game on fire. They scored on their first three possessions and roared out to a 22-0 first quarter lead. The third touchdown came on an 81-yard keeper by quarterback Demetrius Williams.

The Honkers moved the ball on all three of their first-half possessions into Tiger territory, however, each time they were denied in or near the red zone.

A 39-yard pass play from David Schroeder to Bernel Barmore on the Honkers' next possession put the ball at the Tiger 11. Two plays later, Inderkum picked off a pass in the end zone. It would be the first of four interceptions on the night thrown by Honker quarterbacks.

Another interception led to the Tigers' fourth touchdown with 15 seconds left in the first half.

"We told them in the locker room they need to believe in what we're doing and keep playing," said Ithurburn.

The Honkers took the second half kickoff and went down the field from their own 13 to score their first touchdown. Rowe was the workhorse in the drive with one third-down and one fourth-down conversion. But it was Raul Lozano who capped off the drive with a swift 29-yard run, where he was forced to cut back across the field after taking a pitch out, outracing two defenders to the end zone.

Inderkum answered with a quick score, aided by a fourth-down run of 25 yards that set up a short touchdown.

Yuba City took the ensuing kickoff and once again went the distance of the field using their power ground game to score. Rowe and Lozano each converted fourth downs. A pass-interference call set the Honkers up at the Tiger 15. On first down, it was Rowe again right up the middle where he broke a tackle at the 10 and went in for the touchdown. Schroeder then hit Jake Stassi for the two-point conversion to make it 35-14.

Inderkum tacked on a late touchdown in the final minute on a 40-yard interception return.

"We haven't seen a team like this all year," Ithurburn said. "I thought we went play for play with them in the second half, and if you take away that last touchdown, we outscored them in the second half."

Rowe racked up a game-high 168 rushing yards. He outshined Inderkum's heralded runner Antonio Bumpers, who came in the game averaging 170 yards. Rowe went over the 1,000 yard-mark as he finished the game with 1,073 yards on the season.