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Last season, a young Warrior team fought it's way into the Division I state title game against a St. Stephen's team loaded with numbers and seniors. The Spartans had been undefeated and 45ed almost every opponent along the way. While the Spartans took the 2021 state title, the Warriors served notice in their 10 point loss that it was looking forward to the rematch.
The game was again billed as one of the top five in the state to watch on Sixmanfootball.com. It pitted the #13 Warriors against the #18 Spartans and was played at St. Stephens. The flu bug hit the Tribe program during the week and four starters were unable to practice all week. On game day, the Tribe was down one starter and very dehydrated from the extended illness. However, there is a no excuse policy at Tribe and the Warriors used last season's defeat to motivate them througout the game.
It was a back and forth game with neither team turning over the ball. It was a great heavy weight fight with alot of chippyness on both sides of the ball. In the end, it was the Warriors and their seven players going both ways who managed to outlast and perform better in the fourth quarter.
For the first time all season, Tribe needed to put the ball in the air and Chandler Golemon responded with 153 yards passing and 2 TDs. Joshua McAlister had to handle all of the running (Rendon out with the flu) as he stacked up 224 yards rushing on 29 carries and 5 TDs.
Defensively, the Warriors were led by Golemon (9 tackles) and Chuy Gonzales (8 tackles) as the two seniors led a very gutty performance which managed the critical two stops needed to win the game.
This game will go down as one of the best performances by a Tribe team given the circumstances and the stage upon which it was played.
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