PREP FOOTBALL 2016: Petaluma teams face tough opening challenges

High school football starts this weekend, and all three Petaluma teams jump right in deep competitive waters.|

Now it begins, and it won’t be easy.

High school football starts this weekend. All three Petaluma teams jump right in deep competitive waters.

On the first weekend’s dance card are Napa’s Indians for Casa Grande’s Gauchos, Windsor’s Jaguars for Petaluma’s Trojans and Elsie Allen’s Lobos for St. Vincent’s Mustangs.

Casa home at last

After playing its entire 2015 season on the road or at borrowed “home” locations, Casa Grande plays its first varsity football on its newly refurbished field against Napa’s always tough Indians on Friday night.

Casa Grande used its new field for lacrosse and soccer last spring, and even held its first home track meet in seven years at the facility, but Friday night will mark the first varsity football game played on the still-new synthetic turf.

While the facility is new, the Gauchos’ opponent is not. Casa Grande has a long and competitively contentious relationship with the Indians, traditionally one of the toughest teams on its non-league schedule.

Napa handled the Gauchos, 49-18, last season, but then they handled everyone until they ran up against St. Mary’s in the Sac-Joaquim Section semifinals after 11 straight wins.

The Indians don’t expect to be quite as strong this season, but they do expect to be very good.

Although Casa Grande isn’t coming off as nearly glamorous a season as Napa, it expects to be very good in its own right.

The Gauchos lost their first four games last season on their way to a 5-7 record. However, they bounced back from a rocky four-loss beginning to win four of their final six regular-season games, earning a spot in the North Coast Section playoffs, where they belted American, 49-14, before their season came to an end with a loss to Miramonte.

With many of that team’s leaders returning, joined by several talented juniors, the Gauchos appear to have the talent to give the Indians a battle.

A junior varsity game is at 5 p.m., with the varsity game at 7:30 p.m.

Tough road start

While Casa Grande plays one of its toughest opponents of the season at home, Petaluma’s Trojans meet a tough foe of their own and have to do it on the road at Windsor.

Petaluma lost just three regular-season games last season, going 8-4 for the season. One of those losses came in the season opener to Windsor, 21-9, in a game the returning Trojans still believe they could have won.

Windsor went on to a 7-5 record last season, and, like the Trojans, won an NCS playoff game before running into super power Clayton Valley Charter in the second round.

Both teams are reloading after losing much of the talent from last season’s successful teams.

Offensively, each team returns one veteran back who should be in line for a big season - Jackson Baughman for the Jaguars and Connor Richardson for the Trojans.

Defensively, both will count on a team concept and getting a lot of helmets around the ball.

Varsity kickoff is at 7:30 p.m. following a 5 p.m. JV game.

New opener

St. Vincent will prepare for entry into a new league with a new pre-league opponent Saturday afternoon when it hosts Elsie Allen’s Lobos.

St. Vincent’s Mustangs join the North Central League I this season and has just Saturday’s game against the Lobos to prepare for their league opener on Sept. 9 at Cloverdale.

St. Vincent has never played the Lobos in football. Elsie Allen, like all teams on the Mustang schedule, is a larger school than St. Vincent. It is a Division 4 school, but with a Division 3 school population.

The lower ranking comes because of a dismal football history. The Lobos have not won a football game in the last two seasons. However, they have had success in other sports, most notably basketball and soccer, suggesting that athletes are available.

It will be the task of new coach Madison Lott to mold the athletes into a team, a process he hopes starts on St. Vincent’s synthetic turf. Lott is the school’s athletic director and basketball coach. He was formerly head football coach.

St. Vincent is looking for improvement on an injury-marred 3-7 season with a more ground-oriented offense led by returning senior running back Michael Davis. The JVs play at noon, followed by the varsity game at 2 p.m.

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