NCS football playoffs: Windsor pounds Pinole Valley 44-9

PINOLE - Tom Kirkpatrick is back.

The Windsor High School football team took off to a 28-point halftime lead Friday night against host Pinole Valley, en route to a 44-9 blowout victory in the first round of the North Coast Section Division 2 playoffs.

Kirkpatrick, in his 20th year as a head coach, was making his first appearance in the postseason since 2011 when his Healdsburg team was eliminated in a35-6 loss to Salesian. The longtime Redwood Empire high school football coach hasn’t missed a step.

“We’ve been waiting to play that game all year long,” he said. “That was our best game of the year right there.”

Jaguars quarterback Max Brown took full advantage of wide receiver Curtis Johnson’s athleticism, exploiting the mismatch he had against Pinole Valley’s defenders early and often.

Brown connected with Johnson for a deep 36-yard pass on a third-and-10 near midfield to help set up Windsor’s first touchdown of the game, a 9-yard touchdown run by Jackson Baughman, for an early 7-3 lead.

“Curtis is just a good athlete, straight up,” Brown said. “You can throw the ball to him and he’ll make a play. I always trust to throw the ball to him.”

The “trust” between the quarterback Brown and wide receiver Johnson resulted in seven catches for 128 yards and two touchdowns for Johnson, a senior who’s playing his first year of football.

“I wanted (to play football), I just never really thought about it,” Johnson said. “I didn’t think I’d be that good. So I just came out my senior year just to give it a try and I’m pretty good.”

The Jaguars then forced a turnover on the very first play of the ensuing drive, when Pinole Valley quarterback Troyante McConico fumbled on a keeper. Windsor moments later, on Brown’s 13-yard touchdown pass to David Escarcega.

Windsor added a field goal from Dalton Mullins early in the second quarter before pulling away when Brown found Johnson for a 24-yard touchdown pass to make it 24-3 with three minutes left to go in the half.

After forcing Pinole Valley to punt, the Jaguars took a little more than a minute to score their final touchdown of the first half. Baughman took a pass from Brown 43 yards, dancing along the left sideline and evading defenders across the field before crossing the end zone near the right pylon to put Windsor up 31-3 heading into halftime.

“When I first caught it, I just had to beat one guy and then after that, after I made the cutback, I had two of our receivers lead the block after that and it was pretty easy after that,” Baughman said.

“Our defense played great. Our offense played great. We get to play another week,” Kirkpatrick said.

Windsor’s next assignment will a road game Friday against the No. 1 seed in Division 2, Concord Valley Charter. Kickoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.