Golden West 'took care of business' against Dinuba with nine touchdowns, four interceptions

Tulare County high school football fans, look out for Golden West this season.

The Trailblazers rolled past Dinuba 63-8 on Friday night at Visalia Community Stadium.

Golden West (1-1) took control early, leading 36-0 at halftime behind four first-half touchdown passes from Jayden Najera. The sophomore linked up twice with Isaac Elias in the end zone (20 yards, 16 yards) and also fired a pair of 33-yard scoring strikes to Isaac Oceguera and Case Anders.

The entire fourth quarter was played with a running clock.

It wasn’t just an offensive showdown, either.

The Trailblazers’ defense had four first-half interceptions, receiving two from David Lopez and one each from Jeffrey Macumber and Evan Renteria.

Golden West dominated from the outset, driving for the game’s first touchdown on just six plays. Oceguera gave the Trailblazers an 8-0 lead with his 33-yard touchdown and 2-point conversion reception.

The Trailblazers scored five first-half touchdowns on just 20 offensive plays to help snap a two-game losing streak to Dinuba (0-2).

The Emperors entered the game beating Golden West the past two years, winning 22-15 last season and 19-6 in 2022 but it was a completely different result on Friday night.

"Dinuba's always a very tough school," Golden West head coach Travis Anderson said. "They're a classy program. Very tough. We played two very close games the last two years. We knew that at no point could we let off because these guys are a talented team. The score doesn't reflect how good they are but I'm very proud of my guys. The way we competed for all four quarters. We executed at all three levels."

More: The Visalia QB Club: A Tulare County tradition since the 1960s. Plus top performers, power rankings

Golden West's success continued after the break.

On the first play from scrimmage in the third quarter, Anders showed some breakaway speed, ripping off an 80-yard touchdown down the Golden West sideline.

Then after forcing Dinuba to punt on the ensuing possession, Elias returned the boot 74 yards into the end zone and the Trailblazers stretched their advantage to 49-0.

Najera capped his outstanding performance with another touchdown pass, hitting Caden Lawrance for six on a 29-yard completion.

Only a sophomore, Najera completed 11-of-18 passes for 223 yards. He threw a touchdown pass to four different receivers and also scrambled for 23 yards.

"It felt great," Najera said. "The offense was rolling. The defense was rolling. We just took care of business."

Anders, Golden West's starting senior running back, put together a complete performance. He ran for a game-high 154 yards on just 10 carries, averaging 15 yards per carry, and finished with three touchdowns, including one on a 3-yard run in the second quarter.

The Trailblazers scored on every offensive possession, converting four interceptions into 28 points. Backup running back Aedan Luna even found the end zone late in the fourth quarter when his 1-yard plunge extended the Trailblazers' advantage to 63-0.

Elias led all pass catchers with five receptions for 68 yards.

Golden West limited Dinuba to just 198 yards of total offense (111 rushing, 87 passing). The Emperors averaged just 2.8 yards per carry and only had two design runs gain at least 10 yards.

Dinuba punted five times and crossed midfield only once on the game's final possession against Golden West's second-team defense.

"The message this week was 'Finish,'" Anderson said. "The guys executed that to a 'T'. That's what we wanted to do and that's what we wanted to accomplish. It was a great team effort."

Golden West 63, Dinuba 8

Dinuba       0          0              0         8           -              8

GW           16             20            20              7           -              63

First quarter

GW – Isaac Oceguera 33 pass from Jayden Najera (Oceguera pass from Caden Lawrance), 4:25

GW – Case Anders 33 pass from Najera (Rowen Collins pass from Lawrance), 1:25

Second quarter

GW – Isaac Elias 20 pass from Najera (Matthew Garza kick), 7:38

GW – Anders 3 run (Garza kick), 2:55

GW – Elias 16 pass from Najera (kick failed), 2:32

Third quarter

GW – Anders 80 run (Garza kick), 11:46

GW – Elias 74 punt return (kick failed), 7:17

GW – Lawrance 29 pass from Najera (Garza kick), 3:13

Fourth quarter

GW – Aedan Luna 1 run (Garza kick), 11:35

D – Carlos Diaz 14 pass from Tony Ibarra (Guido run), :32

Individual statistics

RUSHING – Dinuba: Matthew Guido 14-25, Kristian Bobenrieth 8-7, Toby Ibarra 2-22, Daniel Hernandez 8-46, Nate Lopez 4-6, Jeremiah Salazar 2-4, Joseph Lopez 1-1. GW: Jayden Najera 4-23, Case Anders 10-154, Carlos Diaz 6-32.

PASSING – Dinuba: Ibarra 9-20-4 87. GW: Najera 11-18-0 223.

RECEIVING – Dinuba: Julian Hernandez 2-28, Jimmy Hignojoz 3-20, Salazar 1-12, Guido 1-1, Carlos Diaz 2-26. GW: Isaac Elias 5-68, Isaac Oceguera 1-33, Anders 1-33, Cadillac Pina 2-43, Luca Spiotta 1-17, Caden Lawrance 1-29.

Records – Dinuba 0-2, GW 1-1.

This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Golden West 'took care of business' against Dinuba with nine touchdowns, four interceptions