Petaluma defense stops Vintage

Outnumbered, outweighed and out-hyped, Petaluma High’s football Trojans shocked Vintage’s defending co-Vine Valley Athletic League champion Crushers 28-26 Friday night at Steve Ellison Field on the Petaluma campus.

The game ran pretty much true to form with two strong infantries standing toe-to-toe and slugging it out, overcoming miscues and misfortune to take the battle down to the final play. What wasn’t expected was that Petaluma would give just a little more than it took and be the last team standing at the finish.

The win was huge for the Trojans who are now not only 5-1 for the season, but 2-0 in league play. The Crushers have to be just a little tired of making the journey to Petaluma after escaping from Casa Grande with a hard-fought 41-19 win last week in a game that was much closer than the score indicated, and then being shocked by the Trojans Friday night.

The finish to Friday night’s excitement was somewhat anti climatic with the difference being a Vintage fumble on a try for a tying 2-point conversion, followed by a final pass that was caught but stopped 30 yards from a miracle.

Until then, the game was a hair-raising contest of time-chewing drives and heroic defensive stands.

Petaluma took on a roster of 59 Crushers with just 27 players. Counted among the missing for the Trojans were starting quarterback and senior leader Henry Ellis and top receiver and defensive back Dawson Shaw, both sidelined by injuries – Ellis by a shoulder hurt and Shaw by a wounded foot.

In their stead, a whole cast of players stepped up and met the Goliaths from Napa County head on.

“This was a big win for us,” said Petaluma Coach Rick Krist. “This is the first time we’ve ever beaten Vintage.” Indeed, it was just the second time any VVAL team has ever beaten Vintage. Casa Grande was first to accomplish the task last year with a 46-44 victory.

Vintage stunned Petaluma right at the start when workhorse speedster Jeffery Page broke a 44-yard gallop just four offensive plays into the contest for the game’s first touchdown. In what ultimately would be a pivotal play, Petaluma linebacker Lucas Vanderlind led a Trojan defensive surge that stopped a 2-point conversion try, leaving the Crushers in front 6-0.

Instead of whimpering, the Trojans snarled, and shoved an impressive 65 yards for a touchdown of their own. Most of the work was done on the ground by Silas Pologeorgis, Chase Miller and Ed Berncich, but Asher Levy, working for the third straight game in place of Ellis behind center, provided a key 24-yard pass to Thomas Flannery to set up his own 3-yard scoring run. Levy then booted true for a 7-6 Petaluma lead.

Mostly bad things happened to the Crushers when they tried to throw the football. It began with Petaluma’s Kaios Gonzalez stopping a Vintage drive with an interception late in the first quarter.

The theft didn’t stymie the Crushers long as they seemingly began to take charge in the second quarter on a 1-yard plunge by Page and a surprise 16-yard pass from Elvis Alvarez to Adam Drozdowicz.

Jack Phillips, in one of the many outstanding defensive efforts for Petaluma, stopped Alvarez trying to run in one conversion, but Page finally added some dessert following a Crusher touchdown with a two-point run after the passing score.

Down 20-7, the Trojans were in a perfect position to yield to their behemoth visitors. Instead, Miller took them off life support with a sizzling 75-yard kickoff return to the house. It was his third kick return touchdown of the season.

With time disappearing in the half, Petaluma did what Petaluma does, relentlessly driving 76 yards on the ground to score on a 1-yard run by Pologeorgis.

Levy added a pair of conversion kicks after each touchdown and the donnybrook was engaged with Petaluma leading 21-20 at the half.

Despite Vintage’s increasingly desperate offensive efforts, Petaluma made big play after big play on defense, sometimes with exceptional individual efforts, often with a swarming team effort that wrapped several defenders around Crusher attackers.

London Sundell, Pologeorgis, Vanderlind, Jack Phillips, JJ Grant, Jax Soper and a multitude of others all contributed to what seemed like a never-ending stand after Petaluma had taken a 28-20 lead on a 66-yard breakaway by Pologeorgis early in the third quarter, followed by a Levy kick.

The teams traded miscues as a ragged third period ticked away with Petaluma taking the ball away on a fumble recovery by Soper, but giving it back on an interception.

Vintage finally managed to bring the contest to within 2 points of parity when Page culminated a 42-yard drive with a 1-yard run.

With both sides hyped for a Vintage conversion try that could have tied the game, the big play fizzled when the Crushers fumbled the conversion, leaving the Trojans with a 28-26 advantage.

The Crushers went down gamely, twice in the final five minutes, forcing Petaluma to punt and ending the game in ball possession with the final desperation pass that was complete, but halted around the Petaluma 30-yard line.

While Petaluma has played consistently strong offense despite its injuries, its two league wins over Justin-Siena and Vintage have been inspired by its defense.

“Our defense has been getting better each game,” Krist said. “Looking at the difference in size and numbers, people would have said there was no way we could stop them, but the guys prepared well and got the job done.”

Sundell put it a little differently. “All the defense stepped up,” he said. “We just played our game. We played Trojan football.”