St. Vincent makes it two in a row with football win over Cloverdale

The St. Vincent mix of veterans up front clearing the way for youngsters to run home points continued to prove potent Friday night, paving the way for a 28-7 win over the Cloverdale Eagles in their home nest.

The win was the second straight on the road for St. Vincent’s Mustangs, who come home Saturday to welcome back alumni in a homecoming celebration.

St. Vincent followed the same script it had used for a 37-3 season-opening win over McKinleyville to take care of Cloverdale. The plot was simple - use a veteran offensive line led by Giovanni Vaca and Giovanni Antonini, to protect sophomore quarterback Jacob Porteous and pave the way for freshman speedster Kai Hall.

In just two high school football games, Hall has rushed for 366 yards on 34 carries and scored six of his team’s 10 touchdowns.

Against the Eagles, he rushed for 147 yards by halftime and finished with 197.

Porteous, in his second varsity game, expertly directed the St. Vincent offense, completing seven of 14 passes for 149 yards and a touchdown to fellow sophomore Dante Antonini. He had connections to five different receivers.

Much of the success of both underclassmen could be attributed to another dominating effort of the Mustang offensive line led by Giovani Antonini and senior Giovani Vaca.

Vaca doubled as the St. Vincent kicker, converting on four PAT kicks and following each Mustang touchdown with a kickoff.

Gio Antonini had what, for him, has become a routinely spectacular game, taking part in 15 tackles, nine solo, and being credited with 3.5 tackles for loss.

Hall ran for two touchdowns in the first half, one on a 20-yard scamper, to give the Mustangs a lead they never lost.

Cloverdale did manage to get close with about four minutes left in the first half by driving 65 yards in six plays, scoring on a 9-yard run by Jone Wesele to narrow the Mustang lead to 14-7.

St. Vincent quickly answered back, going 65 yards to score on a 7-yard pass from Porteous to Dante Antonini to give the Mustangs a 21-7 halftime advantage.

An impressive 8-play, 80-yard march in the third period, capped by Hall’s 2-yard run for his second touchdown, put the game safely in the St. Vincent win column.

The defense played lights out,” said St. Vincent coach Trent Herzog. Gio Antonie played great. Dante Antonini and Jeremy Bukolsky played very well in the defensive backfield and Rory Morgan and Gio Vaca played really well up front.”

Gio Antonio was assisted by a number of ball-pursuing Mustangs on defense, with 14 players credited with being in on tackles. Freshman Nathan Rooks and senior Andrew Kohler made four tackles each, and Nate Berniklau and Anton Ghattas three apiece.

As a team, St. Vincent had 10 tackles for loss.