A host of Tigers including No. 1 Ralph Martinez and #13 Larry Thornton take down a Downey ball carrier while Zach Fleming (No. 55) looks on in a game September 8, 2017. (Kristina Lewis)
Get punched in the gut, and get up again.
That is what the Tokay High football team did against Downey at the Grape Bowl last Friday. But fast-forward to today, as the Tigers make the trip to Stockton to play at Chavez. Game time is 7:30 p.m.
Against Downey, Tokay (1-2) was consistent most of the time against the Modesto school. But the Knights provided the moves that led to a 61-25 win over the Tigers.
“We battled and played great defensively for the first 20ish minutes,” said Tokay coach Michael Holst. “They punched us in the gut over a 3ish minute period to end the half. We need to learn how to handle adversity better.”
The Knights took advantage of short-field situations to score most of their touchdowns toward the end of the second quarter against the Tigers, who was only behind 16-9 after Diego Ramirez booted a 37-yard field goal. On the other end, Tokay had offensive situations to move the ball once it was inside Downey territory, but ended up punting that created minimal ball movement for the Knights in the Tigers’ territory. The final results were Downey, which led 40-9 at halftime, outgaining Tokay in total offensive yards 527-389.
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