Petaluma jumps on Napa early, cruises to victory to stay atop VVAL standings
By Kyle Foster, photo courtesy of Eric Thompson (Shamboozled.com)
Twitter: @NapaKyle @NapaSportsNews
When a bad play happens, it’s important to move forward and put the previous one behind you.
On Friday night, the Napa High football team struggled to do this as first-place Petaluma cruised by them, 54-7.
Napa High head coach Askari Adams said that his team struggled to move on from the last play and get onto the next, which is when things spiraled.
“It’s just one of those things where we should’ve had a couple of those tonight,” he explained. “Our biggest issue is we’re driving the ball, and then there’s a mistake, and then it explodes. We’ve got to forget about that last play and move on, and right now we’re not moving on. It’s lingering in our heads, and it’s affecting our play the rest of the rest of that drive.”
An example of this came in the first half when Napa (2-6, 0-4 VVAL) was able to move the ball down to the Petaluma 35. However, the drive stalled when the Grizzlies weren’t able to move the chains on a 4th-and-3.
Napa’s lone score came with just 39.7 left in the first half when Palma found Fisher McDonald open in the flat for a four-yard scoring connection. The Grizzlies flipped the field when Palma hit Donovan Sander on a 78 connection that took it down to the Petaluma 8-yard line.
Another thing that didn’t make things easy was the fact that the first-place Trojans used their veer attack to its best ability on the way to 383 yards on the ground.
Petaluma (7-1 overall, 4-0 VVAL) was led by Silas Pologeoguis’s 181 yards on the ground on just 11 carries. Pologeorgis also found the end zone on an 11-yard scamper with 5:53 left till halftime and later at the 8:30 mark in the third, he took it to the house on a 70-yard run.
“We know they’re a good team,” Adams said of stopping the running game. “They’re very physical and they play hard. We didn’t match their intensity. We didn’t match their toughness. We didn’t match their physicality and that’s what happens. We knew going into that game that it was going to be that type of game.”
Before Napa could even get settled into the contest they were faced with a 27-0 hole.
Even though Petaluma quarterback Henry Ellis threw the ball just seven times, the senior completed five of them for 72 yards, with a pair of touchdowns, and an interception. His lone touchdown came with 7:31 left in the first quarter when he found Dawson Shaw for a 13-yard scoring connection. Ellis also found Thomas Flannery for a 15-yard connection with 2:38 left in the third.
Then, with 26.9 ticks left of the first Ed Berncich rumbled his way into the end zone from a yard away to give the Trojans a 14-0 lead.
There was just 1:42 left till halftime when J.J. Grant intercepted a pass thrown over the middle by Grizzlies signal caller Yovanni Palma and returned it 45 yards for a touchdown.
With the game in hand, Asher Stolarczyk found the end zone on a 13-yard run with 8:45 left in the game. Finally, Drew Sparks rushed up the middle for a two-yard score with just 2:59 left in the game.
Both teams will now head into rivalry week. Next Saturday, Petaluma will visit Casa Grande at 3 pm in the Egg Bowl.
Meanwhile, Napa will be the visitors next Friday night when they meet crosstown rival Vintage in Big Game LI (51). Napa leads the all-time series 29-19-2, but Vintage has won the last six Big Games. The game will also be a part of the Great American Rivalry Series, as it has been for the previous few years.
Big Game tickets can be purchased at both high schools throughout the week.
In other VVAL action Friday night, American Canyon edged past Casa Grande 23-22, and Vintage beat Sonoma Valley 44-20.
