Prep football preview: Casa Grande, Montgomery meet looking to bounce back from opening losses

Montgomery and Casa Grande high schools would like to change the narrative of their 2019 football seasons before long.

They each have the chance to notch their first win in Friday's 7 p.m. game in Santa Rosa.

Week 2 sees area high schools competing in nonleague games as they prepare for league play in a few weeks.

The Vikings were throttled last week in their opening game against football powerhouse Campolindo, which wasn't a complete shocker, seeing as how Campo is ranked 57th in the state by MaxPreps.

Casa, meanwhile, lost 44-21 to Windsor on a night when the Gauchos could never get their running game in gear (33 yards total) and had to rely on a quarterback starting just his second varsity game ever.

“It's a bounce-back week,” said new Casa Grande coach John Antonio. “That score was not an indicator of what the game really was for us.”

Mistakes - especially late in the game - did in the Gauchos, who have a young team with eight sophomores, including three starting on the offensive line.

“Bad snaps, safeties, turnovers. That was the case late in the game,” Antonio said.

Senior quarterback Miguel Robertson was a bright spot for the Gauchos, though. He connected on 11 of 20 passes for 170 yards and two touchdowns.

“His leadership was above and beyond,” Antonio said.

The Gauchos will also have the daunting 6-3, 270-pound tackle Jack Faris back in the game.

Casa will need all that and more against the Vikings, who, despite getting clobbered, played hard to the end and held their heads high afterward, coach Vertis Patton said.

“Our team was really up after the game,” he said. “They got to play against a great team. It made them hungry to get back to work and get better.

“Our focus continues to be on us and getting better. Last week was everything we'd thought it would be ... This is a process; as long as we compete the right way, the results will eventually take care of themselves.”

Antonio is of the same mindset: “It's not going to happen overnight, although you want it to. Think about starting three sophomores. Down the road a couple years, this is what we're working toward.”

RANCHO COTATE Cougars (0-1) vs. VANDEN Vikings (0-1)

Time: 7 p.m.

Place: Rancho Cotate High School, Rohnert Park

Rancho took a hard loss to Sacramento, 24-6, last week. After being tied 6-6 at halftime, the Cougars couldn't break through in the second half, getting shut down in the third and fourth quarters. Sacramento scored 18 in the fourth for the win.

Quarterback Jared Stocker completed 13 of 23 passes for 128 yards, but Sac's defense picked off four passes.

All three of Sacramento's scores in the fourth quarter came off Rancho turnovers: one pick-six and two fumble recoveries for runbacks.

Running back Rasheed Rankin had the only score for Rancho with an 8-yard run in the second quarter. Both he and Stocker are key components to Rancho's success this year.

CARDINAL NEWMAN Cardinals (1-0) vs. SUTTER Huskies (0-0)

Time: 7:30 p.m.

Place: Sutter High School

The Cardinals will visit the Huskies in Sutter's first game of the year. Newman has one game under its belt, a 38-0 victory over Fortuna last week in Healdsburg as Newman's field is still undergoing work.

Division 3 Sutter was undefeated in its league last year and 10-3 overall. Division 4 Newman provided one of those losses, a 24-0 result last year, also as Sutter's season opener.

Cardinals quarterback Jackson Pavitt is coming off a 10-for-17 game for 154 yards and two touchdowns. He was also the team's leading rusher with 50 yards.

Clayton Woo and Shane Moran each scored rushing touchdowns for Newman last week, while Giancarlo Woods and Tsion Nunnally each caught touchdowns.

HEALDSBURG Greyhounds (0-1) vs. JUSTIN-SIENA Braves (1-0)

Time: 7:30 p.m.

Place: Healdsburg High School

The Greyhounds continue their rebuilding with something of a grudge match against the Napa team. Justin-Siena defeated Healdsburg 61-0 last year, after which several Greyhounds players quit. Healdsburg coaches said they've heard Justin-Siena players have been barking that they made the team end their season.

If there is a little more emotion on Healdsburg's side, you'll know why.

Siena beat Piedmont, 35-9, last week. The Greyhounds hope to learn from last week's 46-6 loss to Sir Francis Drake and fix the mistakes this week.

SONOMA VALLEY Dragons (0-1) vs. EL MOLINO Lions (0-1)

Time: 7:30 p.m.

Place: El Molino High School

In Forestville, both the Dragons and Lions will be looking for their first win.

El Molino quarterback Weston Lewis completed 10 of 28 passes for 160 yards last week in the Lions' 36-7 loss to St. Bernard's of Eureka. He also ran for 71 yards and scored his team's only touchdown.

Sonoma Valley lost, 53-18, to Douglas of Minden, Nevada, last week in coach Hervy Williams' first game at the helm.

Jake Baker starts as quarterback on this junior-heavy team.

KELSEYVILLE Knights (0-1) vs. UKIAH Wildcats (1-0)

Time: 7:30 p.m.

Place: Ukiah High School

Ukiah hosts Kelseyville in a bid to pick up its second win after taking the opener from Terra Linda last week, 13-7.

The Knights hope to rebound from their 28-6 loss at San Marin.

Kelseyville made several mistakes and penalties coach Erick Larsen said need to be fixed this week.

Ukiah hopes to use a short-passing and rush attack to dominate the Knights.

Friday's other games

Windsor at Eureka, 7:30 p.m.

Santa Rosa at Petaluma, 7 p.m.

Analy at Encinal (Alameda), 7:30 p.m.

St. Vincent at Cloverdale, 7:30 p.m.

St. Helena vs. Sir Francis Drake (San Anselmo), 7:30 p.m.

Willits vs. McKinleyville, 7:30 p.m.

Calistoga at Woodside Priory (Portola Valley), 4 p.m.

Round Valley vs. Cornerstone Christian (Antioch), 6 p.m.

Upper Lake vs. Virginia City, 6 p.m.

Saturday's games

Maria Carrillo at Redwood (Larkspur), 2 p.m.

Piner at Novato, 2 p.m.