Rancho Cotate football team starts season with a bang in 55-19 win

ROHNERT PARK - The passing combination of quarterback Gunner Mefferd and wide receiver Chris Taylor-Yamanoha garnered a ton of preseason attention at Rancho Cotate, and rightly so. But if the Cougars can draw the sort of spark they got from halfback Mo Ward on Friday night?

“It could be lethal,” Mefferd said.

Alhambra High probably wouldn’t offer a rebuttal. Ward scored four touchdown and had 205 total yards from scrimmage - 128 on 14 rushing attempts and 77 on four receptions - and Rancho Cotate dismantled the visiting Bulldogs 55-19, avenging last year’s loss.

It was a perfect way to start the season for the Cougars.

All of Rancho’s top offensive players hit the ground running. Besides Ward, Mefferd completed 16 of 25 passes for 229 yards and four touchdowns, while Louisville-bound Taylor-Yamanoha reeled in five receptions for 85 yards and a touchdown - all before halftime. The offensive line looked great, whether pass blocking or firing out on running plays.

Rancho Cotate coach Ed Conroy was particularly effusive in discussing Mefferd, his left-handed senior quarterback.

“In the first half, I think Gunner had one bad ball,” Conroy said. “The others (among his six incompletions) were dropped. The kid is so accurate, so poised, he makes such quick decisions. It’s nice to have weapons, but you’ve got to have a guy who can get it to ’em.”

The Cougars’ arsenal of weapons seems limitless this year. Jaelen Ward, Mo’s younger brother, had two touchdown catches among his four receptions, and speedy Peyton Whetstone got loose for a 36-yard scoring burst late in the game.

It didn’t look much like a runaway at the start as the teams traded touchdowns.

Rancho took the opening kickoff and marched to a quick TD behind the Wards, with Mo’s run setting up Jaelen’s score on a slant route. But Alhambra came right back, using a strong ground attack to set up Zach Elliott’s 36-yard touchdown pass to Josh Ramirez. Tanielu Guerrero blocked the extra point to preserve the Cougars’ 7-6 lead.

The rest of the half was a rout, though. The Bulldogs just couldn’t stop the Rancho attack as the home team scored on all but two first-half possessions en route to a 35-6 lead. Meanwhile, the Cougars’ defense settled down. Guerrero and safety Danny Shelton were particularly active on that side of the ball.

And when Alhambra finally threatened with less than two minutes before halftime, reaching the Rancho Cotate 17, Taylor-Yamanoha ended the threat with an interception as teammate Spencer Sory supplied the pass pressure.

The Bulldogs showed some life on their first possession after halftime, moving 75 yards and scoring on Elliott’s quarterback keeper. But the Cougars answered when Mo Ward caught a short pass in the right flat, angled back to the middle of the field and outran the defense on a 32-yard scoring play to make it 42-13.

The score might have been worse were it not for an Alhambra goal-line stand in the third quarter after Rancho had first-and-goal at the 1.

Maybe the best news of all for Conroy and his staff: The Cougars were whistled for just three penalties, and only one in the decisive first half. And they didn’t turn over the ball once.

It wasn’t all hearts and flowers for the Cougars, though. Brandon Boccaleoni, perhaps their best offensive lineman and a vocal team leader, left in the first half after hurting his knee. Conroy said afterward he did not know the extent of the injury.