Casa Grande comes back to keep Napa winless

After spotting Napa a two touchdown lead, Casa Grande battles back for Vine Valley Athletic League win.|

Casa Grande continued to play an improved level of football with a come-from-behind 41-27 win over winless Napa on the Grizzlies home turf Friday. It was the third win in the last four games for the Gauchos.

It took some adjusting to hold off the upset minded Grizzlies who put a couple of touchdowns on the board early behind the work of left-handed passer Isaiah Newton. Newton had the Gaucho defense floundering in the first quarter on pin-point passing to go along with an occasional read-react running game. Napa scored 13 unanswered points, and the natives occupying Memorial Stadium might have been wondering if this was going to be the night.

Momentum completely changed in the second quarter when Casa came back to score 13 points of its own while barely missing another touchdown opportunity before intermission.

Touchdown runs by Jordan Gramajo and Ian Mckissick evened things up. The five-yard gallop by regular placement kicker McKissick was a slick call by coach Dennis Brunk who had everybody on his side of the field believing that the Gauchos were settling for a three-point try.

Another opportunity was wasted after an ensuing fumble recovery by junior Quinten Lopez set up shop for Casa on the Napa 13. Three plays later, however, a Napa defender yanked the ball away for a recovery, and the game remained tied 13-13 at halftime.

Nevertheless, the pendulum had swung in the second quarter when the aroused Gauchos out gained Napa, 113 yards to 47.

The Gauchos took advantage of their newfound momentum, and put three touchdowns on the board under the guidance of quarterback Jadon Bosarge. Taking delayed calls from the bench, Bosarge ran for one score and tossed 18 yards to emerging wide-out Dominic McHale for another. In between, workhorse halfback Matt Herrera ran 10 yards for another score.

As the game moved into the final quarter, young Antonio Bernardini picked off a Grizzly pass deep in Casa territory to hold off a threat, and set up the longest drive of the night. Casa Grande drove 98 yards in eight plays to score its final touchdown. A reverse to Nate Busse covering 30 yards got the job done.

Overall, the Gauchos had 457 total yards with 314 on the ground. Herrera motored for 93 yards on 17 tries.

Bosarge tossed for 143 yards even though he was picked off twice. The favorite target for the big-play quarterback continued to be McHale who gathered in four passes for 63 yards. The lanky junior had a team-leading 330 yards receiving going into the contest.

Newton threw for 173 yards for the Grizzlies, but was also intercepted twice in the wild-scoring contest.

Jeremy Bonner, Aaron Krupinsky, Alex Johnson and McHale all had major impact defensive efforts for the winning Gauchos who improved to 3-1 in Vine Valley Athletic League play. It was also McHale who chased down quarterback Newton on a near breakaway in the big first quarter for the Grizzlies.

The Grizzlies scored one final touchdown on a leaping grab by Brock Bowers of a seven-yard pass in the corner of the end zone. Scoring has never been a problem for Napa (0-8) as its team now averages 21 points per game.

Napa got things started in the preliminary game by taking a 41-19 decision over the Gaucho junior varsity.

UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy:
  • This is a family newspaper, please use a kind and respectful tone.
  • No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. No off-topic remarks.
  • No disinformation about current events.
  • We will remove any comments — or commenters — that do not follow this commenting policy.