Cardinal Newman wallops Casa Grande in North Bay League opener

Friday was opening night for the NBL and to no one's surprise host Cardinal Newman stormed to a lopsided 64-14 victory against Casa Grande to start its 2017 league campaign.

The game was effectively over with less than four minutes gone by as the Cardinals (3-1, 1-0) had a 20-0 lead with 8:30 to play in the first quarter. Cardinal Newman led 41-0 at the end of the first quarter and emptied its bench before halftime.

'It was good to start out the NBL season with this win. We dominated,' Cardinal Newman coach Paul Cronin said. 'We scored every time we had the ball in the first half. Casa Grande (0-4, 0-1) had a few turnovers early which didn't help them. The game got ugly quickly.'

The Cardinals were led by running back Tanner Mendoza (eight rushes for 122 yards and two touchdowns) and quarterback Beau Barrington (9-12 passing for 150 yards and four touchdowns; one touchdown rushing).

While the Cardinals were busy scoring, the Gauchos couldn't stop hurting themselves offensively. Casa Grande had five turnovers on the night compared to none for the Cardinals.

'Our defense played well,' Cronin said. 'That was a big difference in the number of turnovers.'

Rancho Cotate 63, Montgomery 0

After the Cougars (4-0, 1-0) upset win last week against powerhouse Campolindo, Rancho Cotate coach Gehrig Hotaling said he thought his team might have a letdown against the host Vikings. However, quite the opposite transpired, as the Cougars ran roughshod over Montgomery (2-2, 0-1) from the start in a blowout victory.

'I warned the team of a possible trap game situation this week and thought human nature might kick in this week but we had no letdown at all,' Hotaling said. 'Our guys played fast and physical the entire game.'

Rancho quarterback Jake Simmons was 17 for 20 passing for 364 yards and four touchdowns in the first half. With the Cougars up 56-0 at halftime, Simmons along with the other Rancho starters rested for the second half.

Meanwhile, Montgomery quarterback Joey Thresh, who had 1,265 passing yards in his first three games, could only must 26 yards passing in the first half and was running for his life most of the night.

'Our pass rush was able to flush Montgomery's quarterback out of the pocket quite often. They didn't give him much time tonight. He was throwing a lot of balls away,' Hotaling said. 'Our defense played incredible. I'm proud how our defense played tonight and it was another strong statement by them.'

Hotaling said he isn't surprised with the lopsided win given the talent his team has, but he isn't taking anything for granted. He added that the difference against Montgomery was the domination by the Rancho front lines.

'Our offensive and defensive lineman just controlled both lines of scrimmage and we established physicality,' Hotaling said.

Ukiah 21, Santa Rosa 7

The Wildcats (2-2, 1-0) broke open a 7-7 tie at the end of the third quarter with two touchdowns in the fourth quarter to down the visiting Panthers (1-3, 0-1). After Santa Rosa threw an interception, Wildcats receiver Nick Brochini caught a 60-yard touchdown reception from quarterback Nate Johnson to make the score 14-7 in favor of Ukiah with 11 minutes to play. Ukiah tacked on an insurance touchdown with five minute to play after a 10-yard touchdown scamper by Johnson.

'We came out slow in the first half but played a solid second half,' Ukiah coach Jonathan Dewey said. 'The key to the game was our defense against Santa Rosa's run.'

For Santa Rosa the story was all about penalties. The Panthers were flagged 13 times for well north of 100 yards, killing offensive momentum and stalling drives. They also had four 15-yard penalties and a touchdown nullified in the fourth quarter due to an ineligible receiver.

'We beat ourselves. We had a lot of penalties on us. The penalties just killed us,' Santa Rosa coach Russell Ponce said. 'Ukiah is physical and talented and played well. But we were in the red zone a lot and we had a chance to win and we couldn't get it done.'

Sonoma Valley 35, Elsie Allen 21

The visiting Dragons (1-2, 1-0) got their first win of the season against an undermanned Lobos (1-2, 0-1) squad in both teams' SCL openers.

The Dragons led 35-6 at halftime and utilized their depth to their advantage. The Lobos, who suited up 19 players, almost half the number as Sonoma, lost four of their five offensive lineman during the game.

'It was just a depth issue. We just couldn't keep up,' Elsie Allen coach Derek Hester said. 'It was quite a struggle.

'Our kids went down so fast and we have so little depth.'

Elsie Allen didn't give up and scored two touchdowns in the second half to narrow the margin of loss.

'It was a good home win for the Dragons,' Sonoma coach Bob Midgley said. 'Elsie Allen has some tough kids.'

Lobos quarterback Diego Mendoza scored all three touchdowns for Elsie Allen, two in the air and one on the ground.