Prep Football: California looking to celebrate Senior Night with a win against Warsaw


California quarterback Jacob Wolken prepares to make a throw during last Friday night's game against School of
the Osage.
California quarterback Jacob Wolken prepares to make a throw during last Friday night's game against School of the Osage.

CALIFORNIA, Mo. - There are a lot of potential distractions for California heading into its final game in the regular season against the winless Warsaw Wildcats.

California head coach Marty Albertson and his coaches are doing whatever it takes to keep the team focused.

It's Senior Night for the Pintos (5-3), they want to start their journey back to the state playoffs on the right foot and they're playing a team in Warsaw that's been outscored by an average of 39 points per game. California needs to ignore these potential distractions that could get in the way of a No. 3 seed in the district playoffs.

"It's important that we go out and take care of business early and not let them stay in the game with us," Albertson said. "Obviously, it is Senior Night and they want to put on a good show for their last home game of their senior year. We have to go out and execute, and if we do that, we should not have any problem."

Currently, California sits in fourth place, slightly behind Southern Boone in the district standings. But the Pintos won the head-to-head matchup with the Eagles and they would switch places if the standings remain the same. Owensville is in fifth and Eldon is sixth in the tight race for the third through sixth spots.

But for now, Albertson is pushing his team to worry about the first task at hand.

Warsaw's big offensive threat is senior running back Austin Steenburgen, and he's recorded four 100-plus yard games this season. His 202-yard rushing performance on 34 carries three weeks ago is the highlight of his season, and he also had 156 yards against Clinton in the season opener.

"You don't want to let him get out in the open, because if he gets out in the open, he's pretty fast," Albertson said. "We want to bottle him up early."

There won't be a special strategy in place for the Pintos' defense against the Wildcats. It's as simple as stopping Steenburgen at the line of scrimmage.

"I think if we just do our job, our defensive line will hopefully have a good night against their young offensive line," Albertson said. "As long as they do that and clog the holes, he won't have anywhere to go."

It's been hard for California to get a good matchup for its defensive line this season, but this week Albertson really likes his chances against the young Wildcats offensive line.

California's defense responded well against School of the Osage last week. The Pintos allowed the Indians to gain a respectable 341 total yards, but 107 of those came on two separate plays that went for touchdowns.

One of those plays came late in the game when the Pintos held a 27-point lead.

"I thought they bent a little bit but didn't break," Albertson said. "That was important. Overall, I thought we played a lot better in the second half than we did in the first half on defense. We tackled a lot better."

Senior Landon Mouse and Brandan Gump will get their tackles, but senior Clayton Percival and sophomores Kyle Hofstetter both had great games last week. Hofstetter wasn't a starter earlier in the season, but has moved up in the lineup in recent weeks, and Percival filled a linebacker position when the Indians were focusing on stopping Gump.

"(Hofstetter is) a sophomore and he's gotten better each week," Albertson said. "With Gump there in the middle, (Osage) was kind of pointing towards Gump and getting their best blocker on him. ... Clayton stepped up and had a lot of tackles."

Percival had a team-high nine tackles and Hofstetter added eight. Mouse and senior Hunter Heimericks also had nine tackles, while Gump had seven.

On offense, the Pintos shouldn't have a problem repeating last week's success on the ground and through the air. California had its best rushing performance last week with junior Gunner Baquet hitting the inside and Jacob Wolken running around the edge on read-option plays.

California rushed for 263 yards and four touchdowns as a team, with Wolken leading the way with 121 yards and three scores. Gump and Baquet added 72 and 66 yards, respectively.

"If (the read-option) gives us a running game, then that's important," Albertson said. "We want to go with that and get better with that. When you get to the playoffs, weather and everything comes into consideration, so the good teams have to be able to run the football."

With all the injuries, Gump showed he can be a good option at the running back position to spell Baquet. Gump broke a 71-yard touchdown run last week, and Albertson plans to keep him there instead of his normal tight end spot.

As far as throwing the ball, Albertson believes his team can throw it whenever they want tonight.

"I think if we go out and execute, then we'll be fine," he said. "They give up a lot of yards off tackle and their secondary is not really stout, so I think we can throw the ball any time we want to."

The Pintos and Wildcats will kickoff at 7 p.m. after the Senior Night festivities.

California hosts Warsaw - Updates on Twitter: @CDemocratSports and @PintosAthletics. Listen live online: pintosonline.com. Watch live online: Lake TV

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Week 9 Preview: California vs. Warsaw