PREP FOOTBALL 2016: Cloverdale explodes in second period to blast SV

An explosive second-quarter rally by host Cloverdale was too much to overcome for the St. Vincent Mustangs as they dropped a 48-13 decision in the North Central League I opener on Friday at Allen Memorial Field.

Trailing 7-0 after one quarter, the Eagles scored four touchdowns in less than eight minutes, rolling up a whopping 234 yards, and the Mustangs (1-1) had no answer defensively.

Running back Tristan Rege ran for a 5-yard touchdown and grabbed a pass for 50 yards for another touchdown before the teams broke for intermission. Rege also scored on three long running plays in the second half to finish with 202 yards for the game. Rege is one of the few returning backs for Cloverdale as the Eagles were hard hit by graduation after a 7-4 campaign in 2015.

St. Vincent turned in a solid opening quarter on both sides of the ball to take the early advantage. The Mustangs drove 93 yards in 12 plays to keep the Eagle offense off the field.

Four pass completions by sophomore quarterback Will Davis helped St. Vincent maintain ball possession. A 13-yard toss over the middle to Reno Nalducci set the Mustangs up inside the 10-yard line.

Davis picked up short yardage on a sneak, and brother Michael Davis added a couple of yards on a running play to get the ball close to scoring territory. Will Davis then picked a spot behind productive blocking up front to score the first touchdown of the night.

The PAT kick was added by senior Fernando Vaca, but it would be the last lead the Mustangs would maintain as Cloverdale answered big time in the game-changing second period.

One scoring play for the Eagles came when they snapped the ball before all of the Mustang defenders had returned to set positions after a timeout along the sideline.

Cloverdale continued to dominate after intermission, but the Mustangs turned in some commendable efforts in the late stages of the game.

St. Vincent immediately answered a long running touchdown by Rege with a creative pass play dialed up by the offensive coaches on the next snap from scrimmage in the third period.

A backward toss from Will Davis to his brother Michael had all the appearances of a rush to the left side. After hauling in the ball. Michael Davis suddenly stopped and tossed a strike to a streaking Jack Romano, who was completely behind the Cloverdale secondary. Romano didn’t miss a beat as he headed for scoring territory in front of the pursuing Eagles to complete the 72-yard play.

Michael Davis, Nick Murphy and Brian Giron all had strong defensive moments for St. Vincent. Michael Davis ended the night with 10 tackles while Giron chipped in with eight.

Tony Garcia-Bedoya turned in an impressive effort late in the game on both sides of the ball, in addition to his lofty punts. Garcia-Bedoya finished with 39 yards on four tries from scrimmage.

Will Davis completed seven passes for 74 yards, four to versatile Michael Davis out of the backfield.

The victory for Cloverdale was its first of the season after two losing efforts on the road against Berean Christian and Irvington. Nick Foley was strong on the defensive side of the football for the Eagles. Cloverdale had a pair of pass interceptions to stall St. Vincent drives.

St. Vincent and Cloverdale battled to a 0-0 standoff in the junior varsity game.