PETALUMA, Calif. - It was Monday Night Football in East Petaluma, and it wasn’t much of a game as Casa Grande raced to a 35-0 victory over Sonoma Valley.
The Gauchos had a 22-point second quarter to run away with it.
“We wanted to get on them early. It was Senior Night and wanted to have a fast start so we could get some guys in,” said a fired up Casa Grande coach John Antonio.
Casa Grande (3-4, 2-1 VVAL) scored just two minutes into the game, after Sonoma missed an opportunity to recover an onside kick to open the game. Matt Herrera scored from three yards to put the first Gaucho points on the board.
Just three minutes later, sophomore Ryan Kasper recovered a Dragon fumble to get Casa’s offense back on the field. They would score again, set up by a 38-yard connection from QB Miguel Robertson to Dominic McHale, but Julian Ganoa would get the honors to punch in the touchdown to make it 13-0 Casa Grande.
After being stopped at the goal-line to end the first quarter, their next play was a touchdown as Robertson found Rashad Nixon from three yards out to open it up to 20-0.
After a long Sonoma Valley drive was stopped short, a great punt put Casa Grande deep in their own territory at their own 11 yard line.
That was no problem, as Robertson floated a perfect ball up in the air for McHale as he burned the Sonoma Valley defender deep for an 89 yard touchdown reception. That made it 27-0 Gauchos with 5:49 to go in the half.
On Sonoma Valley’s next drive, we had the first of two stoppages of play due to some extracurricular activity. After a late hit out of bounds on the Casa Grande sideline, the bench erupted in defense of their teammate, after which ensued some pushing and shoving, but in the end was a few unsportsmanlike penalties that offset each other.
“Our guys were sticking up for their team. I don’t like things like that,” Antonio said.
After the Gauchos got the ball back, Robertson found Nixon for their second touchdown connection, this one much deeper than that first one, a 34-yarder. Casa Grande went for two to get the running clock started, and succeeded with Robertson throwing a beautiful ball to Dominic Giomi in traffic, and they hit the magic 35-0.
“This isn’t an ideal situation, so I wanted to get up early and get a running clock. That’s why I went for two there. I wanted to get that going and then get out of the game as healthy as we could,” Antonio said in his defense to go for two.
A few more late hits in the fourth quarter after the play led to more penalties, pushing, shoving and jawing between the teams, but again, no ejections were necessary.
“That was unacceptable what they were doing. It’s not safe for the kids, and not safe for the game,” Antonio commented.
Both teams emptied their benches, and a running clock was played throughout the second half.
Sonoma Valley (1-7, 0-4) had some nice play by quarterback Jake Baker, but nothing on the scoreboard to show of it.
Casa Grande has a big test at home against Napa Friday night, after the Grizzlies defeated Justin Siena last Friday.
“This is a playoff game for us. We’re excited. It’s homecoming for us. We’ll be taking it one game at a time,” said Antonio.
Sonoma Valley hosts Petaluma for Homecoming on Friday at historic Arnold Field.
