Petaluma Trojans thump visiting Trojans

The Petaluma High varsity football team had more than its share of the spectacular in its home football opener Friday night, but it was the more mundane and less noticed workman effort of a rotating offensive line and the efficient defensive backfield that were the keys to an impressive 35-15 win over Terra Linda.

The victory was the second of the season against one loss for Petaluma, and was a satisfying way to begin its play on its home Steve Ellison Field.

Petaluma excited home fans with two long touchdown connections between quarterback Brendan White and wide receiver Harrison Royal; good rushing yardage from Yusef Kawsami and Lucas Dentoni; and a blanketing effort from a secondary that frustrated Terra Linda quarterback Easton English. The senior completed 16 passes, two for touchdowns, but it took him 37 tries and he was intercepted twice.

But while the fans celebrated the obvious, the hard work was done in the trenches. “We were able to rotate 12 players and it made a difference,” said Petaluma coach Rick Krist. “We were able to keep fresh legs in the game.”

Among those doing the tough work were Travis Plank, Chris Temple, Justin Mahrt, Ben Upton, Zane Overton and several others.

On the other side of the football, Petaluma’s secondary, led by Connor Dennison and pass interceptors Dentoni and Michael Devincenzi, stood up well on their island against a bevy of talented Terra Linda receivers.

Both teams are Trojans, and in the early going matched more than names, scraping to a quick 7-7 tie.

Petaluma struck first, lighting its side of the Ellison Field scoreboard for the first time this season on a 13-yard run by Kawsami. The burst started a good game for the senior who did the tough lugging inside, gaining 74 yards on 12 carries and scoring twice.

The lead for the home Trojans didn’t last long, as the visiting Trojans immediately struck back with speedster Keau Keeve busting 68 yards, running over a couple of Petalumans and away from the rest on a touchdown romp that tied the game at 7-7.

The rest of the night belonged to the Trojans from Petaluma.

While the Petaluma defense all but shut down Terra Linda’s big-play potential for the remainder of the evening, the home Trojans took to the airways for some big plays of their own.

Just before the end of the opening quarter, White found Harrison running by his lonesome behind the Terra Linda defenders and connected with his fellow junior for a 53-yard bomb. Royal safely carried the ball into the end zone before losing ball possession well after the score had counted.

After Greg Thomas sailed the ensuing kickoff into the end zone, Terra Linda, behind the running and passing of English, drove 70 yards only to falter when a personal foul backed it up to the 25, and three straight passes were incomplete, the third being broken up by Dennison on one of his many crucial one-on-one defenses.

The half ended with Dentoni’s interception with Petaluma holding a tenuous 14-7 advantage.

Petaluma opened the second half with an impressive ground-bound drive that ran the ball from its 35 to the Terra Linda 18 before it faltered. Thomas came on for a 35-yard field goal try that had plenty of distance but sailed wide. Still, the kicker accounted for 11 points in the game, successfully converting following each Petaluma touchdown and scoring a touchdown himself.

The missed field goal proved only a slight hindrance to Petaluma as White and Royal did their bomb thing again in their next possession, combining for a 41-yard touchdown strike.

Before the final period was four minutes into history, Thomas had bulled his way for a 10-yard touchdown and Kawsami had crunched in behind blocks from Temple and William O’Neil from a yard out. That final Petaluma score had been set up by Devincenzi’s pass theft.

The game’s final eight minutes were played mostly by Petaluma reserves, who gave up a final Terra Linda touchdown on an 19-yard pass from English to JP Traverso.

Krist said after the previous week’s 42-0 loss to Vintage, the team vowed to change things. “They met behind closed doors and made a commitment to one another and to the team,” the coach observed.

The night was made especially pleasant for Petaluma by a thrilling 14-13 win by the junior varsity team, with the deciding touchdown and PAT coming with just 48 seconds left in the game. The mostly sophomore Petaluma junior varsity players did not win a game as freshmen and had lost their first two JV games.

“I couldn’t be prouder of them,” said Krist. “They have hung in there and kept working hard.”