Santa Clarita, CA — The home town Santa Clarita Warriors won their first ever playoff game in the wildcard round advancing to the quarter finals. We had the opportunity to play the either team closer to our age and weight class this week (even though their quarterback was still a 3rd grader). It was the best game of the season for both teams and everyone had a blast. The Warriors were in control the whole game through most of its entirety. The Warriors were up 48-30 with 4:51 left in the 4th quarter when the Raiders scored a few times as time ran out. The offense really worked this weekend producing 321 total yards, with 6 total touchdowns, and only 1 turnover. It was a two headed backfield this week where we showed off our thunder and lighting backs. Dylan Fruchtman brought the thunder running the ball 12 times for 101 yards on the ground with two touchdowns. Dylan broke a lot of tackles and had a lot of hard runs for positive yards. The lighting was flashed by Levi Bradshaw. Levi carried the ball 10 times for 193 yards and 3 rushing touchdowns. Every time Levi touched the ball this game the entire stadium expected him to score. He also had another 48 yard run for a touchdown called back for holding. Dylan also completed a pass to Theo Gonzalez in the second half for 6 yards as well to another to Levi that went for 27 yards to the house. That was Dylan's first pass for a touchdown as well as Levi's for catch for a touchdown ever. Cam Balestier also had a good hard run on a jet play and we had two incomplete passes to Joseph. Our offensive line had their best showing of the season. The line was led by Hayden Sjoberg who had 4 pancake blocks as well as a lot of other lead blocks to spring big plays and touchdowns. Hayden also had a near perfect game snapping the ball. Other standout blockers this game included Nash Asarch (1 pancake block), Blake Stickles (1pb), Joseph Martinez (3pb) as well as a lot of lead blocks in the open field to spring touchdowns, and an astonishing 3rd quarter from Logan Karpman with 5 pancake blocks. Our defense was led by Dylan Fruchtman with 8 tackles followed closely behind by Levi Bradshaw with 6 tackles, 3 of which were tackles for loss. Hayden Sjoberg showed what he can do when he locks in with 4 tackles, 3 of which were tackles for loss, and 3 fumble recoveries (one on a kickoff)! Theo Gonzalez showed flashes with 3 total tackles, 2 for loss, and 1 of those was a sack. Blake had a sack in his return this week and Brentley recorded a tackle for loss from his corner position. We struggled to contain the Raiders around the right side of our defense and the counter play got us a few times. All of the special teams practice over the last month seems to be paying off! The Warriors only lost 1 kickoff return on a lot of attempts which is a huge improvement. We also got one of our onsides kicks (they are all onsides kicks) - recovered by Hayden. Levi picked up a bouncing ball on a kickoff return, followed a key block by Joseph on the backside and took it 51 yards to the house. It was the game of our season and it was so much fun. In the wildcard round we were competing to see who gets to play the #1 seeded Santa Barbara Saints in Santa Barbara. The Warriors fell to the Saints 40-0 just 3 weeks ago. They are an entire team of 3rd graders and one of our parents asked if they were in high school the last time we played. All it takes is a run though! We're on a hot streak here in the playoffs and were optimistic. Always optimistic! - Coach Mike Fruchtman