Super stop saves Trojans

Rancho Cotate came within 12 inches and 4.2 seconds of ending Petaluma’s perfect season Friday night.

A wall of Petaluma defenders stopped Rancho Cotate fullback Sergio Orduna on the game’s final play, allowing the Trojans to frustrate the Cougars, 12-7, in a tension-filled North Coast Section Division II first-round playoff battle.

The game, eerily similar to a regular-season contest between the long-time rivals won by Petaluma, 14-12, came down to two valiant Trojan defensive stops in the game’s last 10 seconds.

With Petaluma leading by five points, Rancho Cotate quarterback Poueu Peleti-Gore ran and passed the determined Cougars 74 yards and two feet in just over one minute. Unfortunately for the Cougars, they had to go a full 75 yards to reach the end zone.

On the game’s second-to-final play, with Rancho Cotate 25 yards from a win, Peleti-Gore hit wide receiver Sean Fish, who ducked under a Trojan tackler and slipped almost into the end zone before he was belted out of bounds by Drew Pawlan and Braedon Ross.

“Almost” translated into just about a foot. Peleti-gore spiked the ball, allowing both sides a chance to set themselves for the play of the season.

The give was to Orduna, who slammed head on into Ricky Sims and was almost simultaneously bent backward by Blake Olsen as Will Spainhour, Shawn Swanson and several other Trojans clogged up the non-existent hole.

“I was running as fast as I could and he came right at me,” said Sims, the first Trojan to make contact. “I wasn’t going to let him end my season.”

“It was a heck of a play,” Olsen said. “We had a blitz called and he ran right into it.”

“Those were two amazing defensive plays,” noted Petaluma coach Steve Ellison. “The thing about a 10-0 team (now 11-0), is that it is not going down without a fight.”

And what a fight it was.

The two mirror-image heavyweights slugged it out up and down a muddy Durst Field, trading drives, defensive stands and a few mistakes until both were exhausted, physically and emotionally.

“That is the best team we’ve played by far,” said Sims, who not only made the big stop, but also scored what stood as the game-winning touchdown in the fourth quarter.

Ellison agreed. “It was a great football team,” he said. “Their defense was the best we’ve faced all year.”

Petaluma’s own defense was pretty tough in its own right even before the one-down stand.

The only Rancho Cotate touchdown was practically handed to the Cougars.

Rancho Cotate’s first drive, engineered by sophomore quarterback Ricky Garcia, as Peleti-Gore sat out the first quarter, reportedly for academic violations, took the first seven minutes of the game and moved the Cougars from their own 28 to the Petaluma 10-yard line, before Joe Soares broke up a fourth-down pass, and turned the ball over to the Trojans.

Petaluma gave the ball right back when Trojan quarterback Mike Russell was ruled to have fumbled as he struggled for extra yardage. Rancho Cotate’s David Calderon picked up the ball, and rumbled 20-plus yards to the Trojan 10-yard line before he was jumped on by Sean Sullivan.

Petaluma held for two downs, but on third down, Garcia tossed a perfect fade to Fish for the score.

Cody Aguirre booted what would loom as a crucial PAT to give Rancho Cotate a 7-0 lead at the end of round one.

Petaluma punched right back. With Russell reading the Trojan triple-option offense with all the proper punctuation, the home side went 64 yards in 14 plays. It took Sullivan three tries behind the lead blocking of Sims to score after the Trojans reached the 5-yard line, but he did get in from the two, with Swanson opening the door.

With Jordy Baddeley lined up to attempt her first PAT in her new status as No. 1 Trojan kicker, Rancho Cotate defensive back Daniel Gerber twice jumped offsides.

The miscues worked to Rancho Cotate’s advantage. With the ball now inside the 2-yard line, the Trojans attempted to run for two, but Sullivan was slammed and the Cougars still led, 7-6.

For what seemed to be an eternity of block and tackle fury, the teams slugged and slipped up and down the field.

It was one-play from the end of the third period that Petaluma began manufacturing its best drive of the season. Starting at his own 7-yard line, Russell constructed a 93-yard march. Sims and Sullivan contributed key third-down conversions, and Russell completed one of only two passes he threw all night to Dalton Johnson for 30 huge yards.

Sims squeezed through a hole opened by Ross and Swanson and raced 18 yards for the touchdown that would barely stand as the game winner.

Ross was all alone in the end zone and reaching for a perfectly thrown Russell pass when he slipped on the muddy turf and the ball flew scorelessly over his grasp.

There was still a little more than seven minutes left before Petaluma’s most pulse-pounding final minute of the season. With 1:10 left, Peleti-Gore started passing the Cougars goalward. A pass interference penalty helped and a 25-yard connection to tight end Nick Mossi helped more.

Finally, it all came down to two great Trojan defensive plays, the end for Rancho Cotate and continued breath for the Trojans.

Russell led the Trojans with 115 yards on 21 carries as the Cougars concentrated to corralling Sullivan (41 yards on 16 carries) and stopping Sims (68 yards on nine carries).

“Those plays were all reads,” Russell said of his carries. “That is what the triple-option is all about.”

The Petaluma defense pretty well contained the Cougars. Peleti-Gore led the Ranch with 64 yards in 14 carries, while dangerous running back Brian Dworkin was held to 29 yards in seven carries. Ordua gained 20 yards in six carries.

Olsen was once again a monster on defense for the Trojans with eight solo tackles, two for losses; an assist and a sack.

Dalton Berncich and Swanson also had sacks, while Chris Kane came up with a pass interception.