Break-even VVAL start for Petaluma football

Trojans finish 3-3 in first season in new league|

Petaluma High’s first dive into Vine Valley Athletic League football landed the Trojans in lukewarm water.

It might have been better had Petaluma not been hit by so many injuries and not slipped in games the Trojans thought they might win. Still, a 6-5 overall record, a 3-3 mark in league and a trip to the North Coast Section playoffs is a successful season in any league.

Although the scores did not always indicate it, the Trojans were competitive in 10 of their 11 games.

“Vintage was the only team that overpowered us,” Petaluma head coach Rick Krist said.

Without a doubt, most hurting of the losses was a 37-36 fall before rival Casa Grande in one of the most exciting Egg Bowls ever.

“We had opportunities to put the game away in the first half, and didn’t get the job done,” Krist recalled. “We let them get back in the game.”

Petaluma drove 80 yards to take a 36-29 lead with what Krist described as “one of the best drives we’ve ever had in our program.”

It wasn’t quite good enough.

Casa Grande responded with a touchdown of its own, going 72 yards in the game’s final minute. A touchdown pass and a 2-point conversion snatched the victory for the Gauchos.

That hurt aside, the season as a whole was a success for the Trojans, who relied on several key seniors for a winning and playoff-reaching campaign.

One of the most important was unsung linebacker/fullback Derrick Pomi. He not only led the team in tackles, but also in defensive leadership. On offense, he was a valuable back-up to starter Colton Prieto. Pomi was an outstanding blocker and ran well between the tackles, gaining 267 yards and scoring five touchdowns with a 5.1 yards-per-carry average.

“His leadership was huge and he is a great young man,” Krist said.

Prieto carried the majority of the load at fullback. Although undersized at 155 pounds, he played much bigger, blocking for the other backs and gaining 697 yards, mostly between the tackles. He scored five touchdowns.

“He did a great job. He is just a tough athlete,” said Krist.

The same could be said of Nick Ayers, who was right up there with the top Petaluma tacklers and an asset on offense. A tight end by vocation, he moved to the interior offensive line when injuries struck the Trojans early in the season. He later moved back to his preferable tight end position.

“He is a football player,” said Krist. “He will play at the next level somewhere.”

Without a doubt, Petaluma’s most explosive and exciting player was Garrett Freitas, who capped his extraordinary Trojan career with another 1,000-plus yard rushing season. Despite missing a game and a half with an injury and playing most of the others hurting with a leg injury, he ran for 1,121 yards and 11 touchdowns. With every defensive player on every team keying on the senior speedster, he averaged 10 yards per carry.

“He got hurt in our first game and never was 100 percent physically,” Krist pointed out. “He still played both ways. He is pretty special.”

Connor Pedersen also gave Petaluma valuable rushing yardage.

The offensive line was a Petaluma strong point all season, and got even stronger when senior Christopher Olvera was able to take over at center, moving Dan Decarli to guard. Decarli and Nick Siembieda gave the Trojans two of the best guards in the VVAL.

Matt Saylers joined Kenny Alexander to provide a duo of strong blocking tackles. Saylers’ return from injury also allowed Ayers to move back to tight end, where he and Garrett Gehring added an extra pair of up-front blockers to the Petaluma triple-option offense attack.

Decarli and Siembieda are three-year varsity players. “They can play at the next level,” Krist said.

Senior quarterback Cole Powers did an excellent job as quarterback of the Trojan offense, playing far better than his numbers indicate.

He contributed 292 yards and eight touchdowns to the Petaluma running attack. On a team that much prefered to run than throw, he completed 50 of 112 passes for 583 yards and five touchdowns.

What the numbers don’t show was how well the senior ran the Petaluma offense and mastered the difficult chore of reading opposing defenses.

“He worked really hard on our audible system,” said Krist. “His ability to call plays at the line of scrimmage was huge for us. He called almost every play in the Casa Grande game at the line of scrimmage.”

A not-so-secret weapon for the Trojans was senior Daxton Hogya, who grabbed two touchdown passes and added 42 points with his strong kicking leg.

Ayers handled the punting, averaging nearly 35 yards per kick.

Defensively, Petaluma had some big games and some big plays within many of its games, but the Trojans were hurt by mistakes that led to big plays.

Pomi, Ayers and Pedersen were consistent leaders, but several others made contributions to the defense.

Sophomore Jack Hartman, who figures to be the quarterback next season, might have played more at the position this year had he not been so valuable in the defensive backfield.

Decarli, Alexander and Siembieda seldom came off the field, making major contributions on defense as well as offense.

Seniors Mariano Jaramillo and Jacob Havard could often be found in opposing backfields. Ayers led the team in tackles for loss, but Jaramillo was just one behind and Havard two.

One of Petaluma’s big problems was getting its offense to sync with its defense.

“It seemed like when our offense was playing well and controlling the line of scrimmage, our defense would give up big plays, and when our defense was playing well, our offense was struggling,” Krist noted. “We definitely had our moments, but we had trouble playing a complete game.”

The heart of this year’s Petaluma team was its seniors, although several juniors made major contributions and will return even more experience next year.

One problematic issue is a lack of numbers in the sophomore class. Because so many players from a strong freshman class were needed on the junior varsity, Petaluma did not field a freshman team, and many first-time high school football players learned on the job against sophomore and even junior opponents.

“I want to have a freshman program,” said Krist. “Hopefully next year we will be able to get more kids out.”

Meanwhile, the Petaluma seniors can take pride and satisfaction in knowing they led the Trojans into a successful start in the Vine Valley Athletic League.

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.