No letdown for Petaluma’s Trojans

Any question about a possible Petaluma Trojan letdown after their emotional win over Casa Grande in the Egg Bowl, followed by a bye week, was answered on their first play from scrimmage Friday night.

Super speedster Sean Sullivan slipped around his own right end, raced 40 yards, hit warp speed and dashed another 34 for a 74-yard touchdown. Less than two minutes into their game against Analy’s Tigers, the Trojans led, 7-0, and never trailed.

The final score at Analy’s homecoming bash at Karlsen Field in Sebastopol was a deceptive, 35-21.

Petaluma all but handed Analy two touchdowns on fumbles. The score at halftime was 35-7, and so dominant were the Trojans that the Analy coaches were asking for a semi-running clock.

The win was the seventh straight for the unbeaten Trojans, who are now 3-0 in Sonoma County League play with three to go.

For the game, Petaluma rushed for 279 yards and quarterback Mike Russell was a near-perfect four of five passing for 87 yards, giving the Trojans 366 total. Analy rushed for just 40 yards and had another 145 on the passing arm of Jake Zanutto, for 185 total.

Sullivan gained 155 yards on just 10 carries. In addition to his 74-yard game-starting burst, he had a zig-zag 44-yard touchdown scamper and had a potential 15-yard scoring run nullified by a penalty.

Fullback Ricky Sims bulled through the heart of the Analy defense for 54 yards and Russell ran for 40 more.

Petaluma coach Steve Ellison was pleased that the Trojans were able to survive, and actually thrive, in a game that had the potential to be very troublesome.

“These games can be scary.” he said. “In the first half, we obviously made some big plays. No. 2 (Sullivan) is a big-play guy. He is amazing.

“Our defense really gave us a good effort against an Analy team that has some pretty good weapons.”

Nick Ziegenhagen and Aaron Randall on the front line, with a lot of help from far-ranging linebackers Blake Olson and Dalton Berncich, completely shut down the Tiger running attack and kept pressure on Zanutto all night.

Although it got beat for two touchdown catches by Analy’s talented wide receiver Chris Bostock, the Petaluma secondary generally did a good job controlling a strong Tiger passing attack.

Both Dalton Johnson and Drew Pawlan had pass interceptions, with Pawlan turning his into a 52-yard scoring return.

It all added up to a Trojan celebration on Analy’s homecoming night.

After Sullivan’s initial scoring burst, Petaluma helped Analy gain a tie by fumbling the ball away at the Trojan 18-yard line. On a fourth-and-two play, Bostock slanted free over the middle to catch a 10-yard touchdown pass from Zanutto.

The 7-7 tie lasted only long enough for Johnson to race behind the Analy defense and grab a perfectly pitched pass from Russell for a 37-yard touchdown. Of Russell’s four pass completions, three went to Johnson, for 49 yards.

On Analy’s next possession, Pawlan played pick six and, with Braeden Ross adding conversion kicks after each of the Petaluma touchdowns, the Trojans led 21-7 at the end of an eventful first quarter.

Less than a minute into the second period, Sullivan did his signature stop-start-zig-zag-bang-bang thing from 44 yards out to run the score to 28-7.

A hold cost the speedster a third touchdown, but that only allowed Sims his chance to score a few plays later from the 5-yard line.

At the midpoint, the score was 35-7 and it was just a matter of Analy celebrating homecoming and Petaluma playing out its win.

The second half was a strange sort of thing, with the clock quickly ticking, Petaluma chewing up yards and time, and Analy doing the only scoring.

A good Analy drive of 60 yards ate up much of the third quarter and ended in frustration when an Olson sack of Zanutto forced a 27-yard field goal attempt by Sal Torres that never gained altitude, smacking into shins at the line of scrimmage.

Analy did get a score when Zanutto zipped a bullet to Bostock for a 38-yard touchdown.

The final Tiger touchdown was truly a gift.

With Sullivan on the sideline, Russell, Sims and Stephen McElroy marched the Trojans from their own 23 to the Analy 10-yard line.

At that point, with just over a minute remaining, Petaluma’s second-team offense came on and ran only one play — a fumble on a messed-up pitch that was picked up by Analy sophomore Mark Adams, who raced 87 yards for a defensive touchdown.

It gave the Tigers, who are now 5-3 overall, but just 1-3 in league, something to cheer for on homecoming night, but did nothing to tarnish the Trojan triumph.

Next up for the Petalumans is a home encounter on Friday, Oct. 30 against Sonoma Valley’s Dragons.