A showdown between the two top teams in the Sacramento Valley League went sideways for the Pierce Bears last Friday night at Om Wraith Field in Paradise, as they fell to hometown Bobcats 42-7.
It was a costly trip for the Bears, who were already without the services of running back Iain Kalfsbeek,then saw both quarterback Bryce Murphy and running back Daniel Gonzalez go down with injuries in the first quarter.
Despite the lopsided loss, head coach Anthony Tapia said there were bright spots to be found.
“It was tough sledding but I saw a lot of positives from the guys that replaced our starters,” Tapia said. “We also had some errors that we made in the early part of the season resurface and we were not able to get away with them against a team like Paradise. They were clicking on all cylinders.”
Pierce’s only score came in the fourth quarter, when after a 90-yard kickoff return by Alexis Palomares, Armando Ramirez found the end zone from five yards away.
No other statistics from the contest were available.
It doesn’t get any easier for the Bears (5-3, 3-1) this week when they kickoff against Durham (5-3, 3-2) at 2:00 p.m. in a Saturday afternoon game at Gregg LeMaster Field in Arbuckle.■