Petaluma collapses in fourth quarter

Heart and a Lucas Dentoni explosion carried Petaluma High’s Trojans for almost three quarters Friday night before Vintage size and strength won the battle at Steve Ellison Field.|

Heart and a Lucas Dentoni explosion carried Petaluma High’s Trojans for almost three quarters Friday night before Vintage size and strength won the battle at Steve Ellison Field.

Vintage’s 48-19 final victory margin was extremely deceiving.

With just over three minutes left in the third quarter, Petaluma scored to pull to within 20-19 of the visiting Crushers. Only a missed extra point prevented the game from being tied.

But that is when things came apart for the Trojans. Vintage scored on a 53-yard pass connection from Jared Horn to Anthony Cornwell to make it 27-20 at the end of the period.

The fourth quarter was a Trojan nightmare with Vintage scoring with ease and Petaluma unable to muster even a first down. This after three quarters of field and statistical parity between the two run-dominated teams.

Petaluma put together an impressive 60-yard game-opening march, but had to settle for a 33-yard Isiah Blomgren field goal, a process that was repeated from 23 yards on the first play of the second quarter.

But, with four and a half minutes remaining in the first half, Vintage led, 20-6. That was when the Trojan offensive line opened a monster gap in the Vintage line and Dentoni darted through and out ran the world for an 80-yard touchdown to make the mid-point score, 20-13.

A Vintage fumble late in the third period gave the Trojans ball ownership at the Vintage seven, and on the first play after the turnover, Petaluma quarterback Brendan White scooted in for the third Trojan touchdown.

The missed PAT kept Vintage barely in the lead, but as it turned out it mattered little as the Crushers took complete charge to send Petaluma to its second straight defeat on the young season.

Petaluma will try again for a first win next week in a rare Saturday afternoon game at Terra Linda in Marin County.

For more on the Petaluma-Vintage game, see Thursday’s Petaluma Argus-Courier.

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