It took the greatest rushing performance in La Puente Bishop Amat High football history on Friday night to propel the Lancers past Murrieta Valley and the Bachmeier brothers in a first-round game of the Southern Section Division 2 playoffs.
Aiden Ramos scored a school-record seven touchdowns, six in the second half, to help Bishop Amat prevail 70-49. He rushed for 303 yards in 33 carries.
“I was going to do everything in my power to win that game,” Ramos said.
At times, Bishop Amat couldn’t handle the Bachmeier brothers, Bear, the sophomore quarterback, and Tiger, the Stanford-bound senior receiver.
Yes, Tiger and Bear are their names, and their synergy is straight out of Smokey the Bear.
“It’s like they’re playing in the park,” coach George Wilson said.
No, it’s like they’re playing a video game.
On the grass field at Kiefer Stadium, it was stunning to watch the two make life miserable for Bishop Amat in the first half. Except the Lancers found a way to counter Murrieta Valley’s offensive firepower with the punishing running Ramos and stellar play of quarterback Richie Munoz.
Munoz passed for 203 yards and one touchdown and ran for another.
Bear finished with 513 yards passing and four touchdown passes while Tiger had 16 receptions for 230 yards and one touchdown.
Bear completed 19 of 21 passes for 308 yards and three touchdowns in a wild first half. Tiger caught eight passes for 142 yards. He also had a 54-yard kickoff return. The score was tied at 7, 14, 21 and 28 before Bear ran two yards for a touchdown to enter halftime with a 35-28 lead.
Munoz was playing linebacker and quarterback while making plays himself. His best came on fourth down in the second quarter. He was about to be sacked but somehow got the ball to Julien Lopez to complete a 41-yard touchdown play. He also ran 35 yards for a touchdown.
In the second half, Bishop Amat got an interception from Delano Franklin and forced four consecutive incompletions from Bear to finally put a stop to the Nighthawks’ offensive domination. Ramos scored touchdowns on runs of one, 11, two and 25 yards to give Bishop Amat a 56-35 lead early in the fourth quarter.
“At halftime, we talked about who wants it more,” Ramos said. “It was not an option to go home.”
Franklin had six catches for 116 yards for Bishop Amat.
It was a difficult last game together for the Bachmeiers.
Two hours before, Tiger’s long black hair reaches halfway down his back as he loosens up with no pads. The word at Murrieta Valley is no one has ever seen him get a haircut. Doesn’t someone try to tackle him by pulling his hair from the back of his helmet?
“Nobody gets close enough,” an assistant coach said.
High school football in Southern California has rarely seen a player with the credentials of Bachmeier, who studies Chinese, gets straight A’s, is working on a pilot’s license, sings in a choir and has pole vaulted 15 feet 9 inches. He’s also caught 97 passes and scored 15 touchdowns on passes from his brother.
Tiger is enrolling early at Stanford, so he’ll be leaving behind Bear in a matter of weeks.
“It’s been awesome,” Tiger said. “Not many can say they played high school football with their brother, let alone threw them a touchdown pass. I’m going to cherish this moment.”
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