{"id":7981,"date":"2019-09-18T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-09-18T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/maderatribustg.wpenginepowered.com\/?p=7981"},"modified":"2026-05-13T18:28:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T18:28:39","slug":"defense-carries-madera-to-governor-s-hat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/defense-carries-madera-to-governor-s-hat\/","title":{"rendered":"Defense carries Madera to Governor\u2019s Hat"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Madera Coyotes football team has emphasized defense since the summer, looking to be a team that can consistently force turnovers.<\/p>

By causing four turnovers against the Merced Bears on Friday, the Coyotes proved that the message is clicking.<\/p>

Those turnovers included three fumbles in the first half and an interception late in the game to seal a 28-14 home win and capture the coveted Governor\u2019s Hat to put on head coach Kenny Paolinelli\u2019s head after his third career victory.<\/p>

\u201cWe work on those every week, ripping at the football, punching at the football,\u201d Paolinelli said. \u201cThat\u2019s a circuit we go through weekly. We want to make an emphasis on turning the ball over this year. That\u2019s something the kids have really bought into.\u201d<\/p>

Jordan De La Rosa made a pivotal interception in the fourth quarter to put the Bears away for good. The senior picked off quarterback Seth Scheidt and returned the interception 60 yards for a score to give the Coyotes a 28-14 lead with 6:40 left in the fourth quarter.<\/p>

\u201cI saw the ball go up and I thought I had the opportunity to go up and attack the ball,\u201d De La Rosa said. \u201cI got it and I had my defense block for me to get that pick six.\u201d<\/p>

De La Rosa made the clutch play, but it was Ricky Garcia who set the tone with two fumble recoveries in the first half.<\/p>

Garcia recovered the first fumble on the opening kickoff, then scooped up another loose ball later in the first quarter.<\/p>

Madera\u2019s Marcus Valdez followed up with another big play for the Coyotes\u2019 defense, scoring with a 98-yard fumble return to give the Coyotes their second touchdown of the game.<\/p>

\u201cWhen they go out on the field, they feel like they can just play fast,\u201d Paolinelli said. \u201cThey don\u2019t have to think because we are so prepared. We watch so much film.\u201d<\/p>

With the win, the Coyotes retained the Governor\u2019s cowboy hat which is given every year to the winner between the two teams.<\/p>

Paolinelli wore the hat as a head coach for the first time, but he has been a part of the rivalry for a long time.<\/p>

\u201cI won it in my senior year. It\u2019s super cool to give it my seniors,\u201d Paolinelli said. \u201cIt\u2019s such a big deal to this community. They have had this game since 1955. To etch your name in history \u2014 for it to say 2019, Madera got the W \u2014 that\u2019s going to be there for the life of this rivalry.\u201d<\/p>

This year\u2019s battle for the hat started with Madera quarterback Isaiah Martinez running for a 49-yard touchdown in the first quarter. However, Martinez finished the game with three interceptions.<\/p>

After the Coyotes took a 14-0 lead, with Valdez\u2019s fumble return, Scheidt connected with Alfonso Gary for a 40-yard touchdown and gave the Bears their first score.<\/p>

Madera\u2019s Dominic Smith then answered back with a 6-yard touchdown run to help the Coyotes regain a two touchdown lead.<\/p>

But that lead was trimmed when Merced\u2019s Desmond Thompson ran for a five-yard touchdown run.<\/p>

Martinez threw his third interception of the game in the final seconds of the first half and the Coyotes held a 21-14 lead at the break.<\/p>

The Coyotes had two possessions inside the Bears\u2019 30-yard line in the third quarter, but came up scoreless on each try.<\/p>

The first chance ended with Martinez fumbling at the Coyotes 25-yard line. Madera also turned the ball over on downs at the 15-yard line on its next possession.<\/p>

With both teams scoreless in the third quarter, the score remained 21-14 going into the fourth quarter.<\/p>

De La Rosa\u2019s interception return in the fourth quarter broke the drought.<\/p>

With six minutes left and down by two touchdowns, the Bears failed on a fourth down attempt and gave the ball back to the Coyotes.<\/p>

Madera\u2019s Jeremiah Sanchez scampered for a 20-yard run with under two minutes left, getting a first-down to help the Coyotes kill the remaining time.<\/p>

\u201cWe have a great group of coaches that believe in our boys and our boys believe in what we are preaching,\u201d Paolinelli said. \u201cThese boys execute the scheme. It\u2019s all about them. The schemes are nothing without the boys executing them. We\u2019re lucky we have a good group of boys that believe in us and execute our scheme.\u201d<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Madera Coyotes football team has emphasized defense since the summer, looking to be a team that can consistently force turnovers. By causing four turnovers against the Merced Bears on Friday, the Coyotes proved that the message is clicking. Those turnovers included three fumbles in the first half and an interception late in the game […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":25952,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"elementor_theme","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_angie_page":false,"page_builder":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[50],"class_list":["post-7981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-schools"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7981"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7981\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25952"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/maderatribune.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}