“The program with a stronger work ethic and smart coaches, will always outmatch a team with talent” –Markus Turner

This is exactly what happened on Friday September 14th at Oakland Tech High School. Our Pitman High School football team rode almost 2 hours to Oakland to come face to face with a respected football program. “We always have a large amount of fans on our side at away games” said Andy Mendez, Senior.

The Pit Crew is a group of loyal Pitman High School students that show an insurmountable amount of support. Every game near or far, you can see PHS seniors leading the charge in the stands, so that players can lead together on the field. “We were just to overpowering for them, offensively and defensively,” remarked Senior Brent Nelle.

Pitman started off even with Oakland Tech for the first quarter. But the second quarter was a “huge change of pace” as Eric Reza Jr. Senior, said. Brent Nelle was responsible for a play that turned the game around for PHS. “We have on days and off days like any other team, but we knew it was an on day when I scored on the interception,” he said. “Everybody had a lot more confidence after we scored on that interception,” said Brennan Houser, Senior. After halftime, the score was 50-7. Pitman was destroying Oakland Tech, on its way to scoring 100 points!

Coach Eric Reza remarked that Oakland Tech was mentally and physically drained. “They just didn’t have enough guys to stay at our level of competitiveness”. After halftime, the secondary team was sent in and did just fine. Titus Judish, Senior, threw a 25 yard touchdown pass to Eric Reza. Reza described it as a slightly underthrown ball, but he was able to adjust and make the play.

There was one play in particular that everyone said was unstoppable. A running play called, “counter”. “We could have scored every play if we ran that,” said Brent Nelle. “We definitely could have scored 90 points that game if we ran counter,” retorted Reza.
The game ended with everybody having sweat and grass stains on there uniform. That’s always a goal for any football team. Pitman won the game 57-21 and pushed their record to 4-0.

Most of the players and coaches agreed that the player of the game was Brent Nelle. With 3 rushing touchdowns and an interception returned for a touchdown. But if you looked passed the statistics, the offensive linemen were the most influential part of this burst of offense. Pitman may have some of the best running backs in California, but you can’t run well without help. The offensive line gives that push that the running backs and quarterbacks need in order to be successful. PHS’s O-line was strong throughout the game.

All in all, it was another successful game for the Pride. ROLL PRIDE…