Submitted article and photo

Mighty Mites

The Charger Mighty Mites showed just how mighty they really are this weekend against the Foothill Jr. Cougars. At the beginning of the first quarter, the Jr. Cougars had the ball and for a moment it looked as if they were off to a good start. But the Yreka Chargers defense stepped it up and held the Cougars at the goal line, never letting them break through. Jake Peterson, Skylar Conrad, Travis Arwood, Travis Hedin, Titus Christy, Davon Ruiz, Wesley Ward, Randall Hughes and Devon Applewhite all made great defensive plays throughout the Mighty Mite game.

Quarterback, Earl Croy Jr. completed two passes against the Foothill Jr. Cougars. One of the completed passes went right in to the hands of running back Jake Peterson, who took the pass all the way for a touchdown. The second pass was successfully received by Devon Applewhite, who made positive yardage up the football field. The Charger Mighty Mites plan to be in full force next weekend and appreciate all the fans that come to cheer them on.

Junior Pee Wees

The Charger Junior Pee Wee played a tough fought battle on Saturday against the Foothill Jr. Cougars. Foothill came out strong and scored a couple of touchdowns in the first quarter. The Junior Pee Wee defense then stepped up and kept Foothill scoreless for the rest of the game.

The Charger Junior Pee Wees answered back with two touchdown runs by Quarterback Tyraye Bush. Bush scored both his touchdown runs by fake runs up the middle. But Bush could not score with out the great offensive line blocking of Robert Giannini, Payton Charlesworth, Anthony Sendejo and Delbert Hensen. Our receiving crew of Devin Gomes, Cale Cool, Tyler Robinson, Lucas West, Jazzmen Wilson and Izaiah Martinez also contributed by getting key blocks, springing Bush to the outside. On the defensive side of the ball, the Junior Pee Wees had a hard hitting crew of Dalton Lester, Jeremy Persing and Tyraye Bush come up with some bone crushing hits against Foothill. Cale Cool and Robert Giannini also contributed with first down saving tackles. Tyler Robinson made a great open field tackle saving a possible touchdown.

All in all the Charger Junior Pee Wee’s are showing great improvement everyday and are getting ready for the regular season to start.

Pee Wees

The Yreka Charger Pee Wees had a hard time scoring against a stifling Jr. Cougar Defense this past Saturday. This game belonged to the Jr. Cougars and they knew it.  With hard hitting tackles and a defense that just wouldn’t quit, the Jr. Cougars upset the Yreka Chargers Pee Wees, 20-0.  Some of the bright spots for the Chargers on offense were two completed passes from quarterback Ryan Bridenstine to his receivers Trenton Riggins and Payton Dickinson. Another bright spot for the offense was Center Tyler Wagy. Wagy didn’t fumble a snap all day.

All around defensive threat, Dominic Villagomes, showed the power of the foot by booming several punts and kickoffs. One punt went for 30 yards in the air eventually landing the Jr. Cougars on their own 15 yard line. Defensive lineman Patrick Bigelow and middle linebacker Virusur Lantz landed several smashing tackles throughout the day and never let up. Bigelow even recovered a fumble in the backfield in the second quarter. Safety Christian Martinez, came three inches away from an interception before getting hit by a Jr. Cougar receiver to make sure that it never happened.

The Pee Wees hope to recover from this defeat and come back to play hard this Saturday at home against the West Valley Jr. Eagles. So please come out and support the Pee Wees.

Jr. Midgets

The Charger Jr Midget squad came out to play at last Saturday’s match up against the Division 1 power house Foothill Jr. Cougars. One of the many contributors was longtime Charger Tyler Hockaday who helped the offense with tough drives throughout the day.

On Offense, Stevie Albers caught a couple of key passes that helped forward the Charger advance. First year player Aaron Freeze had a surprise big gain on a fake punt that made a key first down which set the Chargers up for a Tyler Currie pass to Thomas Colla for a touchdown to tie the game 6-6. Jovani Cabrera-Guevara, Tyler Smith, Scotty Robinson, Freeze, Zach Woodruff, Joseph Betts, Cody Jensen and Andrew Daugherty opened big holes for D. Robles and Hockaday’s big runs. Robles also had several key runs plus a long touchdown run late in the fourth quarter that tied us once again.

Defensive highlights included hard tackles from Eddie Robles along with Curry, Colla and stud Derek Howard who eventually left the game with a crushed hand. Cougar efforts to pass the ball were frustrated by the likes of Braden Whitehouse who had a knocked down pass.

The full Charger defense made up of Dustin Yates, Aaron Durney, Anthony Garcia, Colton Dickinson , Tristen Fonseca, Eric Fernandes, Scottie Wallace, Wyatt Wood, Zane Allen, Max Simon, Jonathan Bridgewater, Ayden Stryker, Tyler Frost and Garet Rider played hard throughout the game to limit the Division One Cougars to just two touchdowns by the end of the game.

With five minutes left in the game, the Jr. Midgets had a good drive but were unable to capitalize and came up five yards short which ended the game in a 12-12 tie.  The Charger Jr. Midgets have proven that their offense and defense can hang with Division 1 teams as they have a win last weekend against Red Bluff and tied this week with Foothill, two very tough Division 1 teams. The final pre-season game is this Saturday against the tough D-1 West Valley Jr. Eagles at Miner Stadium at 2:00 pm.

Midgets
The Yreka Charger Midgets played their first home game of the ‘09 season against the Foothill Jr. Cougars. Yreka held its own in the first half versus the much larger Jr. Cougars. The Chargers played a tough and physical game with Jacob Maphet scoring Yreka’s lone touchdown after a nice drive. The first half ended with foothill leading 8-6.

Foothill came out firing the second half and was able to connect on two deep passes to take control of the game, eventually winning 36-6. Kaden Culp had a nice interception, while Ronnie Watson and Casey Gusaas both provided some nice hits. Andrew Andreas had a good reception to keep the scoring drive alive. Josh Johnson returned from a bell-ringing hit to provide some nice tackles on defense. Yreka fell to 0-2 in non-league play and takes on the West Valley Jr. Eagles next Saturday in Yreka.