B6 | Sunday, September 25, 2022
Wolves
From B1
together,” Montante said. “Clay
(Jackson, Sonoma Valley head
coach) has done a real good job
with their program, but we can do
good things when we don’t shoot
ourselves in the foot.”
Montante said the Wolves
showed they’d learned from the
38-35 loss at Livermore.
“We were one play away from
coming out of their place with a
win,” he said. “We learned from it
this week, we played better, and
this is the result. All the kids work
really, really hard. We’ve had a
really tough nonleague schedule
and we couldn’t get everybody
in that we would have liked, so
being able to empty the bench
and have everybody play tonight
at homecoming was special.
They’re going to remember that.”
The Dragons actually scored
their touchdown while the game
was in balance, on a 3-yard pass
from Ohman to Hudson Giaritta,
but it was set up by a special teams
mistake. The Dragons extended a
stalled drive by recovering a fum-
Crushers
From B1
looked good, with Abramson com-
pleting 17 of 28 passes for 312 yards,
three touchdowns and one inter-
ception. Almond was the leading
receiver with 115 yards on four
catches. Abramson also had an 18-
yard scoring strike to running back
Ryder Jacobson.
Though the Gauchos generated
their share of big plays, the Crush-
ers’ defense also played a role in
the game flipping in their direc-
tion. With very little fear of Casa
Grande’s running game, Vintage
spent much of the contest rush-
ing Abramson with three guys and
dropping eight into coverage.
“Coach (Kyle) Archer works his
butt off,” Leach said of Vintage’s
defensive coordinator. “He cre-
ated that plan and we believed
in it, which is why I let him do it.
We knew that if we got pressure
on (Abramson), he would still find
everyone and they would make
catches. But we decided to play
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The American Canyon football team gathers for a photograph at the end
of their homecoming game against Sonoma Valley in American Canyon on
Friday. American Canyon won 57-7.
ble by Wolves senior captain Sean
Yumang at the American Canyon
6-yard line and scored four plays
later to make it 14-7 with 8:09
left in the half.
Yumang looked to have atoned
for the gaffe when he returned the
ensuing kickoff to the Sonoma
Valley 10. It was nullified by a
penalty and the Wolves started
coverage and get there with three
and it worked.”
Lucas Henry recorded a tackle for
lost yardage. Ackman, Alexis Cas-
tillo and Downing each recorded a
sack. Jacob Fiene intercepted a pass.
Anderson had two impact tackles
(gains resulting in 1-3 yards). Page
and Grant Menzel each had one.
The game was defined in three
sequences.
With Vintage leading 7-6 mid-
way through the first quarter, the
Gauchos got as far as the Crushers’
5-yard line but turned the ball over
on downs.
With 2:10 left in the first quarter,
Alvarez stripped Jacobson of the
ball and Ackman scooped it off the
turf and went 40 yards to paydirt.
At that point, the Crushers began
to assume control.
“I looked inside and could hear
Coach Archer in my ear, ‘Don’t
panic, read the guard and go down-
hill,’” Alvarez said. “I saw the guard
go down, my heart jumped and my
eyes lit up.”
Ackman also did his job well on
the offensive line against a player
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at their own 35 instead. But se-
nior quarterback Kaleb Ander-
son completed a short pass that
Noel Angel turned into a 24-yard
gain to the Dragons’ 23 that led
to James Aken’s 10-yard scoring
sweep around the right side. Aken
also ran in the conversion, after a
Dragons penalty moved the ball
to the 1, for a 22-7 lead.
who had 65 pounds on him, 6-foot,
295-pound Casa Grande defensive
lineman Kodi Cornelius.
“Matt Ackman is a beast,” Leach
said. “He’s a weight room and aca-
demic kid. He does everything we
ask of him. He played a little bit of
a decoy role tonight on the offen-
sive side. We knew they were going
to line up big 51 against him.”
Ackman’s touchdown followed
by one of Henry Drozdowicz’s five
extra points put Vintage in front
14-6 with 2:31 left in the opening
stanza. The lead later swelled to
20-6 on Alvarez’s 24-yard touch-
down. Casa Grande trimmed the
deficit to 20-13 when quarterback
Wyatt Abramson connected with
Spencer Almond for a 34-yard
touchdown in which he broke mul-
tiple tackles with 6:51 left in the
second quarter.
Though Vintage did not score the
rest of the first half, its continued
body blows on the Gauchos took
effect. The Crushers kept the ball
for virtually the rest of the first half.
Casa Grande took possession at its
own 3-yard line with seven seconds
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After a three-and-out, An-
derson found Angel again for a
41-yard catch-and-run to the
Sonoma Valley 27. Anderson
dropped back again on the next
play, then suddenly spun and
headed the other way and out-
raced the Dragons to the end
zone. Xavier Lopez continued
his 7 for 7 night of extra points to
make it 29-7.
Ojani Castillo, who had
opened the scoring with a 23-
yard touchdown scamper four
minutes into the game, added a
40-yarder four minutes into the
third quarter. The junior rushed
for a season-high 100 yards on a
night when usual backfield mate
Kapono Liu, sat out with a minor
injury.
“We’re not just some 2-2 team,”
Castillo said. “We wanted to be
one of the best 2-2 teams and we
want to show that even if it takes
going undefeated in league, we’ll
do it. We’ll show everybody what
it takes to be a Wolf.”
After Yumang made up for his
early turnover with an intercep-
tion, returning it to the Dragons’
15, Anderson’s 15-yard scoring
strike to Joseph Conlon made
remaining before halftime but did
not score.
Vintage took the second-half
kickoff and navigated 80 yards on 11
plays, taking 8:21 off the clock. The
drive finished with Page’s touch-
down.
“We told those guys at halftime
that we’re going to get the ball and
we need to make an eight-minute
drive and score,” Leach said. “We
felt like if we could do that it would
put them into a one-dimensional
offense.”
While the Vintage offense was
pulverizing the Gauchos’ defense,
the methodical drives were frus-
trating Casa Grande by keeping
them on the sideline.
“That’s Coach Leach’s genius
right there,” Alvarez said. “He
knows how to manage the game so
perfectly and it makes my job easier.
I’ve been under him for four years
and I trust him with everything.”
The Crushers jumped into the
VVAL slate looking very bat-
tle-tested after a grueling non-
league schedule that featured San
Ramon Valley, Antioch, Cardinal
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it 43-7.
“That’s my brother right
there,” Castillo said of Conlon,
who also had a sack. “So proud
of him. I know he’s been waiting
(to score a touchdown). He’s one
of our best receivers and I’m glad
he got one.”
Yumang wasn’t done yet.
When the Wolves lined up for an
apparent punt by Angel, Yumang,
lined up as a backfield blocker,
got the snap instead and bolted
untouched up the middle for a
54-yard touchdown.
Anderson had 12 carries for 96
yards and two touchdowns, in-
cluding a 14-yarder at the end of
the first quarter that made it 14-
0. He was an efficient 7 of 8 pass-
ing for 109 yards and one score.
The Wolves (3-2), who have yet
to win two games in a row this
season, will try when they visit a
rested Napa High squad at Me-
morial Stadium on Friday night.
Head coach Askari Adams’ Griz-
zlies (2-2) had their bye this week.
“I have a lot of love and respect
for Askari,” Montante said. “I
have no doubt he’s going to have
his guys ready to go. We have to
stay humble, stay hungry.”
Newman and Heritage.
“I challenged them and played a
lot of psychological tricks on them,
just to prepare them,” Leach said.
“We know Casa is a well-coached
team. They are big and strong. We
can respect that, but we felt this was
our game to win.”
Casa Grande JV 36,
Vintage 21‌
The Gauchos scored two
fourth-quarter touchdowns to
ice their win in each team’s VVAL
opener.
For Vintage, John Bullock scored
rushing touchdowns from 1 and 3
yards away and Jake Boldway scored
on a 27-yard run. The Crushers (3-2
overall) ran for 161 yards on 30 plays,
with Boldway gaining 77 of them on
14 carries. Boldway also blocked a
Casa Grande extra-point attempt.
Defensively for Vintage, Aiden
Ruotsi intercepted a pass. Bullock
and Boldway each had a tackle for
a loss. Bullock also had two impact
tackles, and Ruotsi and Jacob Slay
each had one.
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