Near-perfect Rancho Cotate rolls over Casa Grande

The best team won.

That pretty much sums up Rancho Cotate’s 55-7 win over Casa Grande on Friday night on the Cougars’ fraying carpet in Rohnert Park.

The Cougars, the No. 1 seed in the North Coast Section Division 2 playoffs, were literally unstoppable. Rancho Cotate’s first-team offense scored in every possession and only once all night did the Cougars fail to score a touchdown when they owned the football.

Just to put the dot under the exclamation point of their dominance, the Cougars added a defensive score as well on a pass interception return to the house.

“We were prepared. We thought there would be a better outcome,” said Casa Grande coach Denis Brunk. “We made some mistakes and they capitalized on both sides of the football.”

Rancho Cotate, now 10-1 on the season, moves on to play American Canyon (6-5) on Friday night at the Ranch. Casa Grande finishes its season with a 4-7 record.

Rancho Cotate actually scored twice in its first possession. The game was just over a minute and five plays old when Rasheed Rankin ran through a truck-sized gap on the right side of the Cougar line and didn’t stop running until he reached the Gaucho end zone, 64 yards down field. A flag for holding nullified the effort.

Sent back to midfield, it took the Cougars nine more plays before Sumari Jones, taking a direct center snap, sliced into the end zone from five yards out.

It was just the beginning for Rancho Cotate.

The Gauchos, to their credit, remained spirited to the end, and they forged a few bright spots through what proved to be an overwhelming challenge.

After the score had grown to 14-0 on a 1-yard push by Rankin, the Gauchos put together their best offensive, and considering the opposition, what might have been their best drive of the season, going 80 yards in eight plays.

The big play in the assault was a 40-yard hook-up between quarterback Jadon Bosarge and season-long catching leader Dominic McHale.

The touchdown came on a neat 17-yard Bosarge hit to Nate Busse. McHale finished with four catches for 51 yards, while Busse snared five passes for 47 yards.

Bosarge, despite continued assault from Rancho Cotate rushers, hit 16 of 31 passes for 156 yards.

Ian McKissick kicked Casa Grande’s final point of the season following the touchdown.

Trailing just 14-7 at the end of the first quarter, the Gaucho faithful had legitimate reason for optimism.

That glow lasted only until Rancho Cotate’s next possession when the Cougars pushed 45 yards, with Rankin strolling into the end zone from two yards out.

Although the Casa faithful stuck it out to the end of a chilly, but not really cold, autumn night, it was obvious the Gaucho season was over when the teams broke for halftime discussion, with Rancho Cotate leading, 34-7.

It was 48-7 on a 55-yard pass-interception return by Bryce Potter and a 16-yard pass from quarterback Jared Stocker to Ryan Hupp when Casa Grande finally got a stop late in the third quarter.

The only time Rancho Cotate’s offense didn’t score came when Joey Buickerood covered up a Cougar fumble at the Casa Grande 32-yard line.

Despite the power of the Rancho Cotate offense, there were some courageous Casa defensive efforts. Senior Jordan Gramajo, something of an unsung defensive standout all season, had an outstanding game, as did star-in-the-making freshman Antonio Bernardini.

Casa Grande held Rancho Cotate to a reasonable 191 yards rushing, but with quarterback Stocker adding 262 yards passing on 15 hits in 21 tries, it added up to 431 yards in a near-perfect offensive performance.