After a much needed win last week against Versailles, California football returned to the comfort of home for another grueling test.
The Eldon Mustangs were waiting for California, looking to end a four-game losing streak, while the Pintos were in search of a win to gain more late-season momentum. The Pintos executed their plan in a 62-21 victory against the Mustangs. Friday's win was the 10th career win for head coach Seth Womack since he came to California last year.
"We knew going into this week that they were going to run the heck out of the ball and they do a great job of running the jet sweep. They do a lot of other good things too and they'll put you in some formations that will get you in some conflicts. Our kids did a good job of recognizing that and playing to the level that they needed to play to. They executed very well," Womack said.
California started the game with a bang after Eldon won the coin toss and deferred to the second half. The opening kickoff went into the hands of junior Walker Friedmeyer, who found a hole in the Mustangs return defense and returned the ball to midfield.
On the opening play, senior quarterback Martin Kilmer threw a deep pass to Friedmeyer, who made the catch, eluded his defender, and took the ball 50 yards for a touchdown. California led 7-0 just 20 seconds into the game.
On Eldon's opening drive, California got backed into a corner when the Eldon managed to get the Pintos' 40-yard line. California's defense held its ground and forced the Mustangs into a turnover on downs, taking over at their own 33. The Pintos got down to the Eldon 36-yard line, but disaster struck when Kilmer's pass to a wide receiver was stripped from the receiver's hands for a fumble and Eldon recovered the loose ball on their own 23-yard line. On the next play, Eldon quarterback Hunter Hees handed the ball off to running back Krystopher Shepard, who took the ball 77 yards for a touchdown to tie the game at 7.
The teams exchanged possessions in the second quarter before the Pintos put together a scoring drive. On a first-and-10 from the 23-yard line, Kilmer found Friedmeyer again on a touchdown pass to give California the lead. California bobbled the snap on the extra point, but Kilmer picked up the loose ball and found Friedmeyer in the end zone for a 2-point conversion to make it 15-7.
History repeated itself on Eldon's next drive. California forced Eldon into a third turnover on downs and took over on its own 27. On the first play of the drive, Kilmer threw a cross-field pass to junior wide receiver Cameron Combs. Combs, who had a fumble earlier in the game, made up for the mistake by taking the catch 68 yards to the Eldon 5.
Three plays later, Kilmer took it over from the 5 and California led 22-7 with just more than three minutes left in the half.
California's defense continued to do its job against Eldon by forcing the Mustangs into another a three-and-out on the Mustangs' ensuing drive and the Pintos took over from their own 41-yard line. Two plays later, the Pintos were in the end zone again as Kilmer scored on a 59-yard run to give California a 29-7 lead with 1:16 to go in the first half.
The Pintos' first-half fortune continued when Eldon fumbled the ensuing kickoff and California recovered at the Eldon 47. Three plays later, Kilmer connected with Friedmeyer for a 29-yard touchdown. The Pintos missed the extra point and led 35-7 with less than a minute to before halftime.
With :00.3 seconds to play in the half, Eldon went to for a Hail Mary pass to try and get a much-needed touchdown. Hees threw a deep pass wide receiver Devin Wardenburg that fell incomplte, but the Pintos were flagged for a personal foul.
On the following untimed down, Hees threw to the left corner of the end zone, looking for Wardenburg again. With two defenders next to him, Wardenburg made the catch for a touchdown. Eldon missed the 2-point conversion and California led 35-13 at the half.
"We just talked to our guys about being disciplined after that touchdown happened. We gave an unnecessary penalty right there to put them in that position. Some of things we did in the first half were just disciplining issues where we were out of position and we weren't doing what we taught our kids to do," Womack said. "Against a team that has the style of offense that Eldon runs, you have to be disciplined. I told them that we had to be more disciplined in the second half and I think we were. We were able to put ourselves in positions to make plays and that's what we want from our guys."
Eldon got the ball to begin the second half and worked their way to midfield. Then the tide turned back into California's favor as Hees' was intercepted by Combs at the Eldon 40. The Pintos secured their place back in the driver seat when Kilmer threw a 20 yard touchdown pass to Friedmeyer for his career-high fourth touchdown of the night. Friedmeyer put an exclamation point on his night and California's night when he came up with two interceptions later in the second half, both leading to California touchdowns.
Friedmeyer finished his career-night with four catches for 122 yards, four touchdowns and two interceptions.
"It was definitely the best game of his career tonight. There were some opportunities that he missed early on because he put himself in bad positions. He knew that and he made up for it. We went back to doing what he was taught to do and you're not going to find many kids who are as athletic as him," Womack said. "We looked at the game tonight as a whole team and we've still got some things to clean up. Walker knows it. All of our guys know it. We did a nice job tonight of spreading the ball around and getting the ball into everyone's hands of offense. We coach all our kids to be the best they can and play hard. They did that tonight."
California cruised the remainder of the game. With running back Brooks Volkart scoring two touchdowns and running back Kwynnon Duvall adding one, California posted a 62-21 victory as both teams now have 3-5 records with one game left in the regular season.
Kilmer was 10-of-19 passing for 249 yards and a career-high five touchdowns. Kilmer also had four carries for a season-high 80 yards and two touchdowns. Volkart led all running backs with 153 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries.
One of the biggest keys to victory for California was its defense against Eldon's third- and fourth-down plays. Even though California allowed 434 total yards to the Mustangs, the Pintos' defense held Eldon to 3-11 (27 percent) on third downs and 1-7 (14 percent) on fourth downs. Womack said after allowing almost 400 rushing yards to the Osage Indians three weeks ago, California had to reevaluate their defense and almost start from scratch with their defensive gameplans. Since then, California defense has started to turn the corner and it showed in the six turnovers on downs the Pintos forced Friday night.
"That was big for us to get those stops. Our defense has gotten better and better every week. I'm just proud of what our kids are able to do out there. They faced a lot of adversity early on this year. They gave up some games where we let our opponent run the ball quite a bit on us and they really took that to heart and came to work every week from that point on and we've shown that we can defend better," Womack said. "I do believe in the old saying that there are winners and their are learners. I think we've learned a lot from all the games that we've lost. We took a really hard look at ourselves after the loss against Osage and we had to figure some things out. What we're seeing now is that product. We push them a lot at practice and we expect nothing but their best effort every day."
California will wrap up the regular season this Friday at home against Hallsville. Hallsville defeated California 46-6 last season.
"We felt like we didn't play to nearly our potential in last year's game against them for lots of reasons," Womack said. "That game left a bad taste in our kid's mouths. It's an important one for us. Just to put ourselves in a position with momentum going into districts. This next week is really all about building up for our district. We getting better and we're getting to where we need to be at the right time. We'll see what happens."
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m.
Sophomore running back picks up 31 yards for a first down in the second quarter against Eldon. Volkart had 15 carries for 153 yards and two touchdowns in Friday's game. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Junior Walker Friedmeyer trots into the end zone for a 23-yard touchdown to put California ahead 15-7 midway through the second quarter. Friedmeyer had four receptions for 122 yards and a career-high four touchdowns against the Mustangs. Friedmeyer also had two interceptions in the game. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Senior quarterback Martin Kilmer threw a career-high five touchdowns against the Eldon Mustangs on Friday. Kilmer threw 10/19 for 249 yards in the game. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Senior quarterback Martin Kilmer calls his own number and takes it into the end zone for five-yard touchdown on a fourth and goal in the second quarter. The touchdown put California up 29-7 with under two minutes to play in the first half. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
The California Pintos and head coach Seth Womack (far left) have a team huddle before Friday's game against the Eldon Mustangs. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Junior wide receiver Walker Friedmeyer (left) makes a 20-yard touchdown catch to California a 41-13 lead in the third quarter. It was Friedmeyer's fourth touchdown of the night. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Junior Walker Friedmeyer (left) and sophomore Hayden Kilmer (right) celebrate Friedmeyer's 23-yard touchdown that gave the Pintos the lead in the second quarter. (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Junior Kwynnon Duvall picks up a first down for the Pintos on a 17(Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
Junior running (Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)
(Democrat photo/Evan Holmes)