LAKE ARROWHEAD — Utilizing its signature running game and winning the line of scrimmage, the Rim of the World football team stood tall on both sides of the ball on Friday night to remain undefeated with a 21-7 victory over Antelope Valley.
The Scots’ offense was once again led by senior Tatum Ortiz, a second-generation running back for the school. Having rushed for 537 yards and nine touchdowns over Rim’s first two games, Ortiz didn’t skip a beat to begin Friday’s affair, rushing for 40 yards and a touchdown on the Scots’ opening drive – a 65-yard, 17-play march that consumed nearly 9 minutes of game clock.
Ortiz added a second touchdown in the fourth quarter, his CIF-SS-leading 11th rushing touchdown of the season, and finished the night with 163 rushing yards on 30 carries.
“(Tatum) had to work hard tonight and he had to do some things that didn’t involve him carrying the ball,” Rim head coach Joe Jurado said. “He sacrificed a lot of what we normally do so we can get the ball down the field. I’m very proud of him.”
Reaching the 700-yard mark early in his senior season, Ortiz is trending toward reaching his goal of 2,011 yards – 1 yard more than his father, Jason, rushed for during his senior year at Rim.
“He’s working hard,” Jurado said. “He’s going to be a target every single week. He knows that and we know that, so he’s going to have to keep working.”
Aiding Ortiz’s rushing performance was Rim senior quarterback Wilder Bundra, who passed for 63 yards on six completions, including the Scots’ first passing touchdown of the season.
“We probably threw the ball more tonight than we have in five years,” Jurado said. “We’ve been trying to work on that the last couple of years; trying to get the ball in the air and score that way.”
Holding the Antelopes to just three red zone visits and scoreless until the final three minutes, Rim’s defensive line made a statement with five sacks and five additional tackles for a loss. Senior Cody Karn and junior Tanner McClellan both had a pair of sacks.
“We’re gonna need that because we play tough teams,” Jurado said. “Everyone we have on the schedule is going to be physical with us. The defensive line has gotten better every single week and it’s good for us. We’re going in a positive direction defensively.”
Rim is undefeated through three games for the second consecutive season, the first time the the Scots have done that in back-to-back seasons since 2018-19. They will look for their first 4-0 start since 2019 with a road game against Bloomington next Thursday, while Antelope Valley (0-3) will seek its first victory of the season against Knight next Friday in Palmdale.
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