Gauchos rally to win first VVAL football game

Gauchos come from two touchdowns down to win league opener|

Casa Grande High School’s Gauchos stepped off their Vine Valley Athletic League season in the right direction last week, coming back from an early two-touchdown deficit to defeat Justin-Siena, 41-34, in a game played in Napa.

The Gaucho victory improved their record to 2-3. The loss was the first for Justin-Siena after four non-league victories.

To earn the league win, Casa Grande had to overcome two early big plays by the Braves.

Justin-Siena started the game from its own 8-yard line, but quarterback Hudson Beers connected with Miles Williams for an 86-yard bomb and a quick Braves’ lead.

Following a Casa Grande fumble after the Gauchos had driven to the Justin-Siena 4-yard line, the Braves did it again, getting another bomb from Beers to Solomone Antonini, this one good for 88 yards and a 13-0 Justin-Siena lead.

Casa Grande countered before the first-period expired on a 33-yard scoring pass from Miguel Robertson to Dominic McHale.

Before the mid-point was reached, Casa Grande tied the game on a 1-yard run by Matt Herrera.

Rashad Nixon celebrated his return to the Casa Grande lineup in a big way in the third quarter when he hauled in a Robertson pass and didn’t stop running until he was 76 yards behind the line of scrimmage and into the end zone. The game marked the senior’s first playing time since early in the first game of the season when he suffered a shoulder injury.

“It was great to have him back,” noted Casa Grande coach John Antonio. “With him on one side and McHale on the other, they can’t cover both of them.”

Before the third period ended, Casa Grande scored on an 18-yard run by Dominic Giomi and the Braves answered with a 1-yard run from Blake Hoban.

That made the count 27-20 going into a wild final quarter.

Casa Grande seemed to take charge on a second Nixon touchdown on a 54-yard pass from Robertson and the quarterback’s own 18-yard run.

But Justin-Siena wasn’t done. The Braves battled back. Noah Young scored twice for the Braves on runs of 51 and 6 yards, but the home team was running out of time.

There were less than two minutes left when Young ran in his second score, and when Casa Grande recovered an onside kick, the game was decided.

Robertson was 9 of 14 passing for 236 yards and three touchdowns for Casa Grande, with Nixon, coming back from an injury, grabbing three of the passes for 134 yards.

Giomi rushed for 86 yards and Herrera added 84 for the Gauchos, who host defending league champion Vintage on Friday night.

Casa Grande was led defensively by Ryan Kasper, who had 16 tackles. Herrera and Antonio Bernardini each intercepted a pass for the Gauchos and each theft led to a Casa touchdown.

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.