Friday Night was a good night for high school football in Sonoma County. That is because Elsie Allen won. Anytime Elsie Allen wins it’s a good thing. Of course, the goal for Elsie Allen is to change that thought. They don’t want the local fans happy for them because they won a game. They want the local fans to look at a respectable to good program at Elsie Allen, that wins on a regular basis.
Actually the win by Elsie Allen adds to the changing landscape in the area for high school football. Analy started the change last season by having its best season in school history. There are other signs.
For example:
Piner can go 3-0 with a win today. Last year they went 4-6 which was the most wins in a season since 2004.
Santa Rosa can go 3-0 with a win next week. Last year they went 4-6 which was the second time since 2002 that they had more than three wins.
Calistoga is 3-0. Last year they went 6-5 which was the first time they finished over .500 since 2007. It was the third time since 2000 and in 2011 they went 0-10.
It is nice to see these teams that had a hard time winning to get some success.
FRIDAY RESULTS
Elsie Allen 34 Willits 0
Santa Rosa 25 Antioch 14
Montgomery 50 Dublin 18
Rancho Cotate 42 Pinole Valley 7
Miramonte 23 Analy 13
Benicia 35 Maria Carrillo 7
Middletown 35 Healdsburg 0
Ukiah 19 Oakland 0
Kelseyville 38 South Fork 7
Calistoga 42 John Sweet 0
Berean Christian 26 Cloverdale 14
Elsie Allen scored all its points in the first half in an easy win. Richard De Paz scored three touchdowns to give them its first win since October of 2011 and equals the most wins in a season since they went 2-8 in 2005.
Santa Rosa gets a landmark win and is 2-0 for the second straight season. They have also already qualified for the Division 1 playoffs. Antioch is one of two Division 1 teams on the schedule. One of the formulas for making the playoffs is a .500 record vs. your Division.
Jahi Hayes rushed for 153 yards and two touchdowns, one each in the second and third quarter. Antioch cut it to 19-14 before Kerr Barton recovered a fumble for a defensive touchdown with two minutes left to put things away. It was one of five turnovers the Santa Rosa defense caused.
Santa Rosa has its home opener next week against Deer Valley, who is also a Division 1 team.
In the heading of things getting back to normal, it appears Montgomery is back. Logan Francavilla rushed for 191 yards and three touchdowns as the Vikings started and finished big.
A botched punt snap gave Montgomery the ball at the Dublin five yard line to set up touchdown number one not even a minute into the game. By the end of the first quarter Montgomery had a 22-0 lead.
Dublin snuck back into the game, cutting it to 22-12 going into the fourth quarter. Montgomery scored four touchdowns in the quarter, two of them by the defense.
Montgomery is 2-0 and has scored at least 50 points in each win.
There is some normal stuff going on.
Rancho Cotate fell behind 7-0 and then won easily. Gunner Mefferd threw four touchdown passes, three of them to Joey Trono. That isn’t normal for Rancho Cotate but running the ball is, which they did too. Cooper Nicks rushed for 95 yards and two more scores.
Pinole Valley is 0-3 and in two trips to Sonoma County this season has been outscored 96-14. Two weeks ago Montgomery took a 54-7 win.
The epic game between Analy and Maria Carrillo might have had an after effect as both teams suffered one sided losses.
MIramonte pulled away in the second half to snap Analy’s area long fourteen game regular season winning streak. That honor now belongs to Rancho Cotate who now has a streak of fourteen straight.
Keep an eye on Middletown. Josiah Amos threw three touchdown passes all in the first half in an easy win over Healdsburg. Running back Austin Benson also rushed for 127 yards and two touchdowns. Benson didn’t play in the season opening win over Salesian because of a concussion injury.
Ukiah was pushed around pretty good in its opener against Piner. Since then they have given up six points in two wins.
Schely Nody scored two first half touchdowns, one of them on a 54 yard run.
Calistoga got three touchdowns from the passing combination of Orion Harrell and Danny Alfaro to win its third straight.
JC FOOTBALL
SRJC 34 Diablo Valley 20
The Bear Cubs rally in the second half and are 2-0.
K’Lan Anderson rushed for 118 yards and two touchdowns, the second a one yard run which gave SRJC a 21-20 lead in the third quarter. His first touchdown was a 63 yard run to start the scoring.
Diablo Valley scored 20 straight points to take a 20-14 halftime lead. Anderson’s second touchdown capped an 13 play 80 yard drive.
SRJC goes to Sacramento next Friday. Sacramento went overtime to defeat Sierra in its opener 37-31. They are at American River today.
SATURDAY SCHEDULE
El Cerrito (1-1) at Cardinal Newman (2-0)
KSRO 1350…BROADCAST TIME 6:35
Casa Grande (2-0) at Napa (1-1)
Sonoma Valley (2-0) at San Marin (1-1)
Piner (2-0) at Tamalpais (1-1)
El Molino (1-1) at St. Bernard’s (1-1)
Petaluma (1-1) at Terra Linda (1-1)
St. Helena (1-1) at St. Vincent (2-0)
Clear Lake (1-0) at Upper Lake (0-1)
Marshall (0-1) at Tomales (1-1)
Windsor (1-1) has the week off.
NBL GIRLS SOCCER
No. 25 Montgomery (5-0) at No. 4 Maria Carrillo (4-0-1)…7:30 pm
The rankings are in a National Poll. It is Montgomery’s first league game. Maria Carrillo is 1-0.
My email address is jacpasquini@comcast.net