Championships are hard to come by in sports. So when a team wins back-to-back titles, it is regarded as something special.
That is exactly what the Cedarwood Elementary school football team did Friday as it dispatched Woods Elementary 25-7 at Veterans Memorial Stadium to capture a second straight Elementary School District championship.
Cedarwood received the opening kickoff, and on the team’s first possession scored on the fifth play when Ryan Machado ran 40 yards to the endzone to get the early lead.
Woods responded by turning the ball over on downs, ceding the ball again to Cedarwood.
Cedarwood scored again after the team ran the ball down to the Woods 1-yard-line, when Dalton Byrd, head coach Bryan Bird’s son and the quarterback, ran the ball in for another 6 points.
The score was set up by a pass from Byrd to Logan Georges on a 4th and 14 to keep the drive alive.
The Cedarwood defense continued to make the points stand, not allowing even a single first down in the first half.
If you ask coach Byrd, the defensive line was the key to stifling the Woods offense.
“We stuffed them pretty good in the first half,” Byrd said. Coach Byrd said that Logan Murad, Caden Arsensault came up big for that defensive unit. “Woods was known to be big and play power football, and they really stopped it pretty well.”
Cedarwood’s third touchdown of the contest, the team went to a wildcat formation, allowing Machado to roll out of the pocket and throw a 30-yard touchdown to Dalton, the team’s normal quarterback.
“[Machado] threw it about 15, and Dalton ran for about 15,” coach Byrd said.
At this point, it was 19-0, still in the first half.
After the Cedarwood defense again stuffed the Woods attack, Machado came back down the field and scampered into the endzone himself for a 12-yard score.
Woods scored its only touchdown in the game when Cedarwood has placed some of its subs in the game.
“It’s quite an accomplishment when you think about how many schools are in Clovis Unified,” Byrd said about winning two consecutive titles. “For them to win that big game two years in a row is pretty impressive.”