PREP FOOTBALL 2016: The best of the Empire invade Petaluma Friday night

League play begins for both the Petaluma and Casa Grande football teams Friday night, and to mark the occasion, arguably the two best teams in the Redwood Empire will be in town simultaneously.|

Talk about starting with a bang.

League play begins for both the Petaluma and Casa Grande football teams Friday night, and to mark the occasion, arguably the two best teams in the Redwood Empire will be in town simultaneously. Adding spice to an already importance-loaded prep football weekend, St. Vincent will host one of the best small-school teams in the Empire Saturday afternoon.

The lineup has Cardinal Newman at Casa Grande and Analy at Petaluma on Friday night and St. Helena at St. Vincent on Saturday afternoon. Early season results would suggest that Casa Grande faces an even greater challenge than Petaluma as they meet a Cardinal Newman team that already has beaten Analy, 42-26, in a clash of prep titans.

Cards flying again

After winning the North Bay League championship last season and going 11-3, Cardinal Newman’s Cardinals are again flying high. It is true the Cardinals have lost a game, but that was to St. Mary’s of Stockton, the unbeaten (4-0) top-ranked school in the Sac-Joaquim Section and the No. 7 ranked team in the state.

Sandwiched around that loss were wins over over Fortuna, 45-12, and Analy.

Casa Grande recorded its first win two weeks ago, defeating San Marin, 24-22, after losing to Napa, 36-0, and St. Bernard’s, 42-28. The Gauchos had a much-needed bye last week to heal hurts and prepare for the Cardinals. Like the Gauchos, the Cardinals also are coming off a bye after the big win over Analy two weeks ago.

“The bye helped us,” says Casa Grande coach Trent Herzog. “It gave us an extra week to prepare, get healthy and get our feet under us. We’ll have all our guys back going into the game.”

There is no secret what the Gauchos have to do - stop Newman quarterback Jordon Brookshire. Superman disguised as a mild-mannered quarterback, Brookshire passed for more than 2,000 yards last season, but he is as dangerous with his legs as he is with his arm. In the big win over Analy, he personally ran down the Tigers, rushing for five touchdowns.

It might not be that easy for Brookshire against Casa Grande. The Gauchos have outstanding linebackers in Spencer Torkelson, Mike Morarity and Travis Voight and a strong containment end in Billy Brown.

“We can’t stop him, but if we can slow him down to half of what he usually does we’ll have a great chance to win the football game,” Herzog says.

The Gauchos have yet to establish their ground game, but in the last two weeks have displayed a strong medium-range passing attack led by senior quarterback Frank Gawronski. For the season, Gawronski has completed 32 of 57 passes for 497 yards and four touchdowns. He has a passer rating of 94.0.

Herzog says this year’s Cardinal team is one of the top one or two Newman teams the Gauchos have played since he has been head coach with a good defense and a strong offensive line.

“The best thing about them is that they are well coached with good fundamentals and good techniques,” he explains.

But Herzog says he believes his Gauchos are ready for the challenge after their tough pre-league games.

“Playing teams like Napa and St. Bernard’s has prepared us to play against teams like Cardinal Newman and the other tough teams in our league,” he says.

Tiger-Trojan tussle

On the other side of town, Petaluma has a tough chore as it seeks its first win of the season in its Sonoma County League opener against Analy.

The last time the Tigers and Trojans tangled, it was for the SCL championship, and the game was a classic won by Analy, 42-36, on a last-second desperation pass.

This year, Analy has many of the same players back from that championship team, while Petaluma is almost completely new. The contrast shows in the records. Analy is 3-1, with wins over Maria Carrillo, 40-14; Rancho Cotate, 63-46; and Acalanes, 49-30, offset by the loss to Cardinal Newman. Petaluma is 0-3 with losses to Windsor, 42-7; Rodriguez from Fairfield, 42-27; and Kennedy from Fremont, 49-3.

Petaluma coach Rick Krist offers a simple strategy for the underdog Trojans. “We have to play pretty darn good,” he says.

Amplifying, Krist explains, “we have to have the ball a lot longer than they do. Their offense is so explosive we have to keep the ball away from them on offense, and on defense we have to take away the big, big, big play. We have to force them to be more patient.”

That’s easier planned than done.

Analy quarterback Jack Newman is one of the most prolific passers ever in the Redwood Empire. So far, in just four games, he has connected on 100 of 141 attempts for 1,636 yards and 16 touchdowns with no interceptions. He has a quarterback rating of 147.4.

Five Analy receivers have caught throws for more than 100 yards, led by Eric Bendyk, who has 25 catches for 532 yards.

But, it will take more than statistics and a reputation to defeat a still-determined Trojan team that has shown the potential to carry out the coach’s game plan of hogging the football.

Junior Jacob Wolbert has shown a good grasp of the Trojans’ triple-option offense, and he has a bevy of ball carriers who have displayed flashes of excellence at times. Senior Connor Richardson, who had three touchdowns against Rodriguez, does much of the heavy work, but Jacob Rolistin, Dominic Ayers and Dominic Christophal have all had strong runs.

Saints march in

St. Helena’s Saints march onto the St. Vincent field looking to stay on a roll after handling Cloverdale, 33-0.

Cloverdale defeated St. Vincent, 48-13, two weeks ago. Last week, the Mustangs lost to Clear Lake, 48-13, and are still looking for their first league win since joining the North Central League I this season. The Mustangs do have a non-league win over Elsie Allen, 43-18.

St. Helena is 2-1 with a non-league win over Drake, 36-6, but a league loss to Kelseyville, 27-21.

To record that coveted first league win, St. Vincent must stop St. Helena’s ground game. Led by senior Nikko Lopez, the Saints are averaging 245 rushing yards a game. Lopez has accounted for 406 yards, is averaging 8.8 yards a carry, and has scored seven touchdowns.

St. Vincent hopes to continue to improve its own running game. The Mustangs are averaging 205 yards per game on the ground, with Mike Davis accounting for 325 yards and averaging 9.5 per game.

Tony Garcia-Bedoya had a break-out game against Clear Lake last week, busting runs of 61 and 55 yards on his way to 134 and now has 173 for the season, averaging 17.3 yards per carry.

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