Elk Grove Moves on to Quarterfinals
Nov 14, 2024 09:26AM ● By Alejandro Barron
Alphonso Moore Jr. runs away from the Kimball defense during the Elk Grove Thundering Herd’s home playoff game in the first round against the Kimball Jaguars on Nov. 8. Moore Jr. rushed for 264 yards with two touchdowns. Photo by Alejandro Barron
ELK GROVE, CA (MPG) - In a game where mistakes were capitalized on, the Elk Grove Thundering Herd defeated the Kimball Jaguars by a score of 32-7 in the first round of the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs in the Division II playoff bracket.
Fumbles and interceptions were capitalized on by the Herd which led them to run away with the game.
“It was huge and that was the difference in the game this week was getting us those turnovers and giving the ball back to the offense and getting points off of those turnovers was huge for us,” head coach of the Herd John Heffernan said.
Even when not scoring off the turnovers, Heffernan said that it kept the Jaguars from scoring.
After going down 7-0 on the first drive but getting points back after a successful field goal, the Herd capitalized on a mistake from the Jaguars.
Once the Jaguars stopped the Herd offense and had to punt the ball away, the punt returner misjudged the bounce off the turf when attempting to secure the ball which led him to fumble and for senior Makhai Barrett to scoop up the ball and easily run into the endzone.
This changed the momentum of the game after being down early and led the Herd to run away with the game with some stellar individual performances.
Junior Alphonso Moore Jr. rushed for 264 yards for two touchdowns along with a fumble recovery, sophomore Lance Lewis made four total tackles and had two interceptions, and senior David Hale rushed for 121 yards and scored once.
Although a few individuals played well, as a group Heffernan wasn’t totally pleased with how his offense played.
“Offensively we struggled at times. A little sluggish, not as crisp as I would like, but we did enough towards the end to get some breakaways and get some points,” Heffernan said.
Along with the offense, Heffernan wasn’t pleased with the team’s execution.
“We just got to execute cleaner and be a lot sharper and we didn’t do that today offensively and with a team like Rocklin (their next opponent) we got to be perfect in our execution if we’re going to have a chance,” Heffernan said.
The dominant performances did not stop there as the Herd’s defense was able to stop the run game and play well, Heffernan said, after only surrendering a single score after the Jaguars' first drive.
“Watching film we knew numbers three and two (Jermaine Nance and Josiah Wilson of the Jaguars) were really good and fast so a great job stopping the run and secondary-wise, those interceptions we had really made a big difference,” Heffernan said.
The first round of playoffs was the round the Herd were eliminated from last season, so for Heffernan he said he feels great to get over that hump and to prepare for the No. 1 seed Rocklin Thunder.
“It feels great to be able to get these guys to that next level and get one more week of football. We’ll prepare for Rocklin like anybody else by trying to coach our tails off and get these kids prepared and ready to go,” Heffernan said.
The last time the Thunder and Herd clashed was also in the playoffs on Nov. 20, 2009, where the Thunder was victorious by a score of 35-7.
The Herd will travel to Rocklin to take on the Thunder, who achieved a regular season record of 8-2, on Nov. 15 at 7 p.m. in the quarterfinals.
