It will be Casa Grande at Petaluma in high school football this week. No, Casa and Petaluma don’t play, but the Gauchos will be on the Petaluma home turf, borrowing Steve Ellison Field to face Windsor in a tough North Bay League encounter. That game will be a traditional Friday night lights affair, with the junior varsities starting at 5 p.m. and the main event at 7:30 p.m.
Petaluma vacates its field to play at Piner on Saturday afternoon. The junior varsities begin that game at 11 a.m., with the varsity kickoff set for 2 p.m.
St. Vincent draws a much-needed bye following a 1-4 pre-league season. The week off will give the Mustangs a chance to heal some injured bodies as they prepare for their Bay Football League opener at home against California School for the Deaf on Oct. 10.
Tomales goes back under the lights to face a familiar foe when it hosts Upper Lake on Friday night with kickoff at 7 p.m.
No easy task
Casa Grande has yet to put together a complete game, and as a result is 0-4 almost halfway through the regular season. The good news is that is where the Gauchos were last season when they turned things around, went 6-2 for the rest of the season, and reached the North Coast Section Division II playoffs where they won two games and advanced to the semifinals.
The bad news is that to turn their season around, the Gauchos have to beat one of the best teams in not only their own North Bay League, but also the Redwood Empire. Windsor is 3-1 on the season, with its only loss coming to powerhouse Miramonte, 40-3. The Jaguars’ wins were against Petaluma, 21-9; Northgate from Walnut Creek, 38-22; and, in its NBL opener last week, Ukiah, 39-22.
It seems that every Casa opponent this season has been talent-loaded and Windsor will be no exception, and the Jaguars may be one of the better balanced of the bunch. The Jaguars have passed for 726 yards in their four games and rushed for 708.
Maxwell Brown is the passer, having competed 48 of 92 throws for 647 yards and seven touchdowns.
The Jaguar rushing attack is two-pronged with junior David Escarega running for 263 yards and senior Jackson Baughman picking up 239.
The Windsor defense is led by linebackers Sam Fletcher and Anthony Spallino.
Casa Grande’s trouble has been consistency. The Gauchos have played well in spurts in most of their games, but have been unable to put together an entire game. Last week, they led Rancho Cotate 14-7 early, but then gave up 35 straight points in a 48-28 loss.
Windsor won last year’s encounter, 27-7.
Evenly matched
On paper, Petaluma’s Saturday afternoon game at Piner appears to be a toss-up between two of the better teams in the Sonoma County League.
Both teams are 3-2 on the season and coming off impressive league-opening wins against struggling opponents. Piner rolled over winless Elsie Allen, 60-0, while Petaluma had little trouble with equally winless Sonoma Valley, winning 51-13. Both reached the North Coast Section playoffs last season.
Petaluma’s defense, outstanding during the three-game winning streak, will be tested by an explosive Piner offense featuring running back Jose Ramirez and quarterback Dillon Riveras.
Ramirez ran for 211 yards in a 43-12 win over Burton from San Francisco and scored twice last week against Elsie Allen, once on a 40-yard run. Riveras has completed 23 of 44 passes fo 492 yards and three touchdowns, and also has run for 106 yards and four touchdowns.
Petaluma’s defense has allowed four touchdowns during the win streak, but three of those came after the games had turned one-sided in the Trojans’ favor.
Trojan coach Rick Krist makes no secret that Petaluma is a rushing team, which has been just fine so far this season as it has run for 1,288 yards, averaging 257 yards running a game.
Quarterback Brendan White throws sparingly, but to good effect. Picking his spots, he has thrown just 43 times, but has completed 23 for 311 yards.
Petaluma won last year’s encounter, 23-12.
Foe with a twist
Tomales hosts a familiar foe, but with a twist Friday night when it plays Upper Lake.
The two met last season, with Tomales winning, 40-0. However, in that game both sides had too many men on the field. Both used 11. This year, each is allowed to play only eight in the new North Central league III.
Upper Lake seems to have adapted well to the new format. After going winless last season, the 8-man Cougars are 2-1, with wins over Rincon Valley Christian, 36-20, and Potter Valley, 68-6. The loss was to Calistoga, 54-16.
After struggling to score last season, the Cougars have developed an impressive 8-man attack, rushing for 110 yards a game and averaging 147 more through the air.
Upper Lake’s running attack is led by Dre Santos, who is averaging better than five yards a carry and has scored four of his team’s rushing touchdowns.
Unlike the Braves, who seldom pass, Upper Lake throws often and well. Junior quarterback Derek Pritchard has completed 31 of 50 throws (.620 completion percentage) for 442 yards, averaging close to 150 aerial yards per game.
Tomales bounced back from its only loss of the season, a 68-6 fall at Point Arena, to defeat Rincon Valley Christian, 34-20 last week.
The Braves, as they always do, will come out running at Upper Lake behind Ty Evenich and Andres Cuevas. Quarterback Johnny Barajas ably administers the Braves’ double-wing ground assault.
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