On Saturday the Freshman Ponies opened league play against the Bishop Broncos and after a hard fought 6-0 loss to the Apple Valley Knights last week, the Ponies were eager to get back into the win column.

Once again the Ponies defense came up with another great performance against Bishop as they led the Ponies to a 26-0 win.

Offensively the Ponies got their running game back on track as they jumped out to a 13-0 halftime lead over the Broncos. The return of Zach Bushling helped the offense as he carried eight times for 132 yards and four touchdowns. Austin Hurley finished with 10 carries and 56 yards, followed by Conrad Miller’s five carries for 13 yards. Keaton Kissack completed 1-of-7 passes, with his only completion to Hurley for 18 yards. The leading tacklers for the Ponies were Hurley (8) Bushling, Mullen and Kissack (5), Colby Ritchison (4) and Blake Lanterman, Jacob Lightner, Robert Mental and Jordan Jost (3) each. Quaid Bohn, Charles Gholson, Cameron Stamps each had (2). Kern Valley travels to Mammoth on Saturday to take on the Huskies.

• The Kern Valley senior Broncos improved to 2-1 on the season with a resounding 37-28 victory over Bishop.

The KV Broncos exploded for 530 yards rushing with Matt Reilly gaining a jaw dropping 432 yards on 25 carries and five TDs. Reilly scored on runs of 70,55,1,74, and 32 yards respectively. Corey Mixon had 79 yds on 17 carries and one reception for 26 yards. Cody Little with 18 yards on two carries and Christian Meija four yards on one carry rounded out the rushing onslaught.

Evan Moore subbing for Mixon’s kicking duties kicked a remarkable 33 yard field goal just before halftime to increase the lead 19-14. Kern Valley would jump out to a 31-14 lead at the end of the third to seal Bishop’s fate.

Logan Kraus-Smith led the defense with eight tackles and a sack. Mixon had five tackles, one interception and two fumble recoveries.

Alex Hurley had five tackles with a sack. Jordan Lacher recorded five tackles while Stephen Whisler, Mejia, and Reilly finished with four each. Reilly also had an interception and fumble recovery.

Moore had three tackles and Little two. The next game is in Mammoth on Saturday.

• Kern Valley fought a hard defensive game for a win over the Bishop Broncos. The final score was 15-13.

At the end of the first quarter the score remained 0-0. Bishop put seven points on the board in the third quarter. The rest of the third quarter went scoreless.

The fourth quarter turned into a head-to-head battle when Kern Valley finally puts two points on the board with a safety. Quinn Bohn, Ty Hurley and Brennan Medley tackled a Bishop player in the end zone.

Tyler Morta turned right around and ran a 50 yard kick off return to the end zone for six more points for the Mustangs. In the next series Morta picked up a fumble recovery on Bishop’s fourth down. Zach Heffner passed the ball to Bryce Presswood for a 45 yard scoring toss. The PAT was ran in by Smith.

The punt return was picked up by Bishop and ran right back down to the Bishop end zone for six points going to Bishop. Kern Valley blocked the point after attempt. Kern Valley’s offense had a total of 267 yards. Smith ran for 112 yards, Morta for 100 yards, Presswood for 37 yards, Bohn for 13 yards and Heffner for five yards.

Kern Valleys defense held Bishop to 126 total yards. Heffner and Brennan Medley had seven tackles apiece, while Tristin Hernandez had six, Morta, Ty Hurley and Smith each had three. Bohn and Weston Williams each had one tackle. PJ Simunovich and Tanner Whisler both played strong on the offense and defense.