Twelve Bridges tramples Sierra, sets up semifinal rematch with Placer

The Twelve Bridges Raging Rhinos' trek to avenge its Sac-Joaquin Section championship loss a season ago started Friday against the Sierra Timberwolves of Manteca. The Rhinos stormed out of the gate and built a comfortable lead early, growing one step closer to that goal with a 63-7 win in Lincoln where they haven't lost a game in over two years. It's difficult to embody how dominant head coach Chris Bean's team has been over the past two seasons. They now have a combined record of 23-1 over the last two years and Friday's performance illustrated just why that is, as the Rhinos scored a touchdown on each of their first three plays from scrimmage. Senior wide receiver Isaiah Rodriguez outran the entire Sierra defense down the sideline on the Rhinos' first drive with a 75-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Connor Flaherty. Twelve Bridges' next two plays on offense were a 68-yard touchdown run from senior running back Braeden Ward, and a 48-yard touchdown pass from Flaherty to junior running back Bradley Kirby. A good portion of the Rhinos' starters wouldn't see second-half action due to a 49-0 halftime lead, including Ward, but that didn't stop him putting up yet another mind boggling statline. With just five carries, the senior tallied 204 yards and 3 touchdowns. And as always, Ward proffered the credit to his offensive line, who didn't miss a beat. "Obviously a big part of this I owe to those boys up front, they block so well for me," Ward said. "I just see the hole and I cut, and I just know that it's a foot race from there." Ward, who has made a name for himself as one of the best players in the section, was responsible for two of the three 70-plus yard touchdowns the Rhinos had Friday. Senior wide receiver Gavin Rappa produced the other with a 73-yard run. Whether it was Rodriguez, Ward or Rappa, the Rhinos' overwhelming amount of playmakers seemed to be unstoppable. There were multiple occasions where they'd use one player as eye candy, only to hand it to someone else after fooling the entire defense. "Obviously we owe a lot of that to our head coach," Ward said. "The practice that we do, there's a lot of fakes and misdirection to try and get a team to jump to one side so we can run it to the other." Twelve Bridges, the top seed in Division IV, was one of four teams to play a game Friday after sitting out last week with a bye. Sierra was coming off a 26-21 win over Yuba City as the No. 9 seed. The Rhinos looked like the more well-rested team, and a battle-tested Sierra may have been running low on gas coming into this game. After starting 5-1, the Timberwolves ended the season on a four-game losing streak before their first-round playoff win. "Some teams may have been looking ahead - these guys don't do that. They just stay in the moment," Bean said. "And that's what they showed on both sides of the ball tonight," This win sets up a rematch on Nov. 22, against No. 4 Placer (9-2), which Twelve Bridges (11-0) beat earlier this season 51-34 for the Foothill Valley League title. This time the Rhinos will get to host as the higher seed after Placer knocked off Escalon on Friday 42-2. "I think we were all sort of preparing for Placer round two," Bean said. "I think if you ask Placer if they could get a rematch with us at the cost of them losing the league championship so they could get to hang a blue banner, then it's probably worth it. So you're going to get what they did at their place magnified by twenty." Bean has built a remarkable team and culture in his short, yet indescribably impactful three-year tenure at Twelve Bridges. After graduating 18 varsity starters from last season's championship run, the Rhinos are in position to make a title-game appearance again, but may be better equipped for it this time around. "They're a tough group to understand," Bean said. "Half the time at practice they'd rather just goof around, and as a coach you're frustrated. And then they come out and blow a team up. They're really hard to get a pulse on, but they love to play football."