Rodriguez runs by Trojans in the second half

Petaluma High’s football Trojans stood strong through three periods before injury-aided fatigue and a jet stream created by Rodriguez speedster Mustafah Muhammad blew away their hopes of a first win in the final quarter Friday night.

Muhammad took charge in the second half, leading Rodriguez’s Mustangs from Fairfield to an impressive 42-27 victory over the home-standing Trojans.

The senior speedster scored three touchdowns in the final two periods to carry the Mustangs to their first victory after a pair of shutout losses to start the season. The loss was the second without a win for the Trojans, who continued to be blistered by the opposition’s big plays. For the game, Muhammad blasted his way to 234 yards on 15 carries and scored four touchdowns, including a 63-yard scoring scamper in the first half.

Fullback Conner Richardson scored three times for Petaluma, all on 1-yard plunges, after the Trojans had moved close by efficient operation of their triple-option offense.

The game was truly a story of two halves, with Petaluma looking like the dominant team for the first half, while Rodriguez stayed close with big plays.

Rodriguez, behind solid up-front blocking, managed to open the way for Muhammad in the second half, while its defense clamped down after Petaluma had briefly moved ahead, 27-20, about eight minutes into the third period.

Petaluma led at the half, 21-20, only because Rodriguez missed two PAT attempts, one on a kick and the other on a bad pitch, but partially atoned with a two-point plunge by Muhammad.

Petaluma was perfect on its PAT kicks by Thomas De Jong.

Rodriguez scored its first points of the season in the first quarter on a 33-yard fourth-down pass from Adam Shafter to a wide-open Julian Smith, and after a 6-minute Petaluma march resulted in a 4-yard scoring run by Jacob Rolistin, came back for its second on the 63-yard burst by Muhammad.

Petaluma then seemed to take charge with 50-plus yard marches setting up two Richardson 1-yard scores.

Rodriguez made it close at the half when Amir Alcorn sprinted 25 yards on a reverse, but despite a 1-point advantage, Petaluma looked to be the controlling team.

With about four minutes left in the third period, Petaluma released its own version of a big play as Dominic Christobal slipped 35 yards to set up another Richardson 1-yard score, and a 27-20 lead. That advantage was quickly wiped out by a 1-yard run by Muhammad, a TD that was set up by a 22-yard pass from Shafer to Julian Smith and Muhammad’s 27-yard breakaway.

Before it was over, the Mustangs had galloped for two more Muhammad scores, on a 32-yard scamper and a 2-yard run.

Petaluma went down trying. with quarterback Justin Wolbert hitting a couple of medium-range passes to Christobal and Colin Stremlau before time expired.

For the game, Rodriguez had 432 yards of total offense, with Shafer providing 128 through the air, hitting 8 of 14 passes.

Petaluma racked up 184 rushing yards, but only 41 passing. Christobal led the Trojans with 52 yards rushing, but five different backs ran for more than 20 yards.

Petaluma coach Rick Krist said there was no question the Trojans were tired by the end.

“We were down to 24 healthy guys,” he said. “We had a lot of guys playing both sides of the ball. We just got plumb tuckered out.”

Krist said the goal remains the same for the Trojans as they move forward.

“We want to get better every week,” he explained. “We had some special moments and did some good things this week, but we want to get better.”