Area prep football teams look to rebound

It’s rebound time for area high school football teams as all try to bounce back from one-sided defeats last week.

After losing to Analy 48-32, Petaluma again attempts to record a Sonoma County League win, playing on its borrowed home at Casa Grande on Saturday night against Sonoma Valley. Casa Grande, after losing its North Bay League opener to Cardinal Newman, 64-14, will use its own field Friday night to host Rancho Cotate. St. Vincent, a 41-0 loser to St. Helena last week, hosts Middletown in its homecoming game Saturday afternoon. Tomales, a 68-26 loser to Branson last week, has a Friday night home game against Stuart Hall.

Each week the mountain seems to get steeper for Casa Grande’s Gauchos, who are still looking for their first win for new coach Denis Brunk. It is no exception this week. After losing to Cardinal Newman, the Gauchos (0-4) must now take on a Rancho Cotate team that most believe is even better than the Cardinals.

Rancho’s Cougars have been challenged just once in four games. That came two weeks ago when they defeated Diablo Valley League powerhouse Campolindo, 33-28. Every other Cougar game has been a blowout - 62-0 over Saint Mary’s of Albany; 48-3 over Analy, considered to be the best team in the Sonoma County League; and, last week, 63-0 over Montgomery in the NBL opener.

Rancho Cotate will step onto the Casa Grande turf throwing. Junior quarterback Jake Simmons, in just four games, has already passed for 1,412 yards, completing 71 of 89 passes for 16 touchdowns. He has a quarterback rating of 112.8.

Wide receiver Jaelen Ward has 28 receptions for 548 yards and five touchdowns.

When Rancho Cotate does run the ball, it will be carried by senior Kobi Buckley, who has rushed for 310 yards in four games, averaging close to 7 yards per game.

Casa Grande, despite its difficult start, has shown the potential to move the football even against strong defenses like those thrown at it by Cardinal Newman and Petaluma.

Quarterbacks Jance Offerman and Jadon Bosarge have combined to throw for 747 yards in four games and running backs Kenneth Fitzgerald and Jack Leonetti have speed and run hard.

Standouts defensively have been linebacker Leonetti and aggressive corner back Aaron Krupinsky, who will be a key against Rancho Cotate’s aerial bombardment.

Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.

After losing its SCL showdown game to Analy in the first league game, Petaluma’s Trojans must dig out, battle for North Coast positioning, and hope someone else can knock off the Tigers.

That digging starts Saturday night against Sonoma Valley’s Dragons. Sonoma has played only three games this season, losing to El Camino of South San Francisco, 20-12, and Montgomery, 31-13, before beating Elsie Allen, 35-21, last week.

Petaluma has counted among its four wins a 55-48 victory over Montgomery.

Of concern for the Trojans is the dangerous Dragon pass-catch combination of quarterback Rocko Wetzel and receiver Josef Marenec. Petaluma has been vulnerable to the pass in every game this season and will be facing another potentially strong aerial game.

Of course, even if Sonoma Valley is able to get its offense into high gear, it must find a way to slow down Petaluma’s potent ground game. The Trojans are averaging better than 300 rushing yards a game. For the Dragon defense, stopping the Trojans isn’t as simple as silencing any one weapon. Two Petalumans, Jacob Rollstin and quarterback Justin Wolbert, have gained more than 300 yards rushing; two more, Justin Turner and Dominic Ayers, have gained more than 200 yards; and Garrett Freitas has gained more than 100. As a team, Petaluma has rushed for 1,501 yards.

In five games, Petaluma has scored 205 points, averaging 41.,6 points per game.

Kickoff is at 7:30 p.m.

Homecoming will be happy for St. Vincent High School on Saturday afternoon. Whether or not it will be successful on the scoreboard is a different question.

Middletown’s Mustangs will provide the opposition for St. Vincent’s Mustangs in a North Central League I game. For the home Mustangs, getting a victory over the visiting Mustangs will not be easy.

Middletown is 3-1 on the season, but none of its victories - 13-0 over Berean Christian, 7-6 over Kelseyville and 28-0 over Lower Lake - have been particularly impressive. Middletown’s lone loss was to Hercules, 13-7.

St. Vincent is 1-4 on the season and still looking for its first league win.

Homecoming is especially significant for St. Vincent this year as students, parents, fans and alumni celebrate the school’s 100th anniversary.

Kickoff is at 1 p.m.

The path for Tomales High School’s Braves doesn’t get any easier this week as they host a tough Stuart Hall team from San Francisco on Friday night.

Stuart Hall is 3-1 on the season with an impressive 34-14 win over Upper Lake and, last week, a 62-20 pasting of Anzar High School from San Juan Bautista.

Tomales hosts with a 1-2 record after opening its league season last week with a 68-26 loss to Branson from Ross.

Kickoff is at 7 p.m.