CASA GRANDE 21, WINDSOR 20Gauchos hold on for first victory

Casa Grande dominated most of the first three periods, but had to hold off a determined Windsor rally in the final minutes of the game to post an exciting 21-20 win over the Jaguars at Steve Ellison Field on Friday. The Gauchos led the contest from the opening series, but it took a last-minute pass deflection on a two-point PAT attempt to avoid a fifth consecutive defeat.

The Gauchos came out with plenty of emotion in their first game on any field in Petaluma, and their defense led the charge. On the first Windsor series of the game, left-handed quarterback Max Brown threw into coverage, and the errant toss was picked off by defensive standout Nic Petri, who ran into the end zone untouched with 11 minutes left in the first period.

Petri had another terrific game with 13 combined tackles, and he received able assistance from Spencer Torkelson, Billy Brown, Alec Burdette and Jorge Barajas. Also in the mix for the first time this year was Elijah Chirco, who was cleared to play on Friday. Chirco had a busy night, making five solo tackles, and added three assists.

Casa sparkled on defense most of the way after the teams exchanged first-half touchdowns to leave the Gauchos leading 14-7 at intermission.

The Gauchos made their only serious drive of the game in the second quarter, keyed by a 37-yard fake punt by Holton Johnson that caught the Jaguar special team napping. Four consecutive pass completions by quarterback JJ Anderson led to the score. His final toss to Chirco at tight end for eight yards into the back of the end zone gave Casa a 14-0 lead.

Windsor came right back to march 70 yards in 10 plays to cut the lead in half. Three costly major penalties were instrumental in the drive as the Gaucho emotions spilled over. Two calls were helmet-to-helmet contact, and the third was a personal foul.

Once again, the Gauchos came out firing in the second half as they scored before many fans located their seats after the halftime break. Anderson found receiver Kaleo Garrigan streaking down the right side, and the senior caught the ball in full stride to pull away from the last defender on a 65-yard touchdown play. It was the fifth touchdown of the season for Garrigan.

The defense for the Gauchos finally began to leak a little oil in the fourth quarter when Windsor, now only trailing 21-14, moved the ball on the ground for 62 yards with running back David Escracega getting the majority of calls. With time running down past the three-minute mark in the final quarter, Brown bulled it in from the 1-yard line and coach Tom Kirkpatrick called time out to discuss a two-point PAT try and the lead.

Momentum had switched to the Windsor side of the field, and running it in for two points was a definite possibility. In the final quarter, the Jaguars had run 24 plays from scrimmage compared to only 12 for the Gauchos.

The Jaguars decided to skip an almost certain overtime tie-breaker and go for it all by opting for two points. A halfback handoff to Jackson Baughman that first appeared to be a run, was quickly altered to a pass to the right corner of the end zone. It was batted down by a leaping defensive back Stephan Dennis. The score remained 21-20, but there was time left on the clock if the Gauchos were stopped.

The issue of going for two points might not have come up as earlier in the game Dalten Mullins narrowly missed a 43-yard field goal when the ball came up a bit short.

Things were not quite settled, however, as the Jags got the ball back with a little over a minute remaining and began to move the ball consistently again. With time at a premium, Brown threw a cross-field pass and the ball was picked off by Torkelson, who jumped the route, and that ended it.

It was fitting because Torkelson made several open-field tackles to prevent big gainers throughout the game.

“We pushed them around in that last offensive series, but give Casa Grande credit on that last play,” said Kirkpatrick to his disappointed Jaguars. “That was a good play, and they had players in position.”

It was a gutsy call to be sure, but this time the Gauchos had enough left in the tank to deny the go-ahead play call.

Casa Grande coach Trent Herzog was extremely pleased with the victory and the ability of his players to trust one another.

“They have used that play before and our kids were ready,” he said. “We have had a lot of battles with coach Kirkpatrick when he was at Healdsburg, and he is notorious for trick plays. We practiced every day on plays just like that.”

Herzog also praised Torkelson for his good read on the final pass and kicker Johnson who kept Windsor pinned deep with a couple of outstanding punts.

“It was nice to have a big home crowd,” he added.