El Mo will visit Healdsburg this Friday, Analy enters bye week
The Friday night lights shined brightly on Analy and El Molino football teams on Sept. 23, as the Lions and Tigers took care of business in the opening week of the Sonoma County League season.
El Molino (2-3, 1-0) erased a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit to edge visiting Piner 21-17, while Analy (4-1, 1-0) easily dispatched Petaluma on the Trojan’s home turf in a 55-7 romp.
The Lions will be back on the field this Friday, Sept. 30 when they visit Healdsburg (3-1) at Recreation Park in at 7:30 p.m. varsity kickoff. The Tigers will enjoy a bye on the schedule this week before resuming play on October 7 at Sonoma Valley.
Tigers in a rout
Any local fans expecting a replay of last year’s championship clash between Analy and Petaluma on Friday would be greatly mistaken, as the Tigers exploited a huge mismatch in the 2016 edition at Ellison Field.
Analy quarterback Jack Newman was nearly unstoppable in the opening quarter, firing touchdown strikes to Spencer Vogel (9, 37 yards), Kyle Johnson (5 yards) and Ross Simmons (31 yards) in racing to a 27-0 lead after one.
The Tiger’s defense continued to bottle up the Petaluma running game in the second period, giving Analy great field position. The offense was more than happy to oblige, as running back Osiris Zamora began the quarter with a 9-yard scoring burst, followed by a 34-yard touchdown scamper on the next possession. Zamora would finish off an explosive first half with another 4-yard scoring run to make it 48-0 Tigers at the break.
With a running game clock and most of Analy’s starters on the bench, the Tigers would yield one second half touchdown to the Trojans. Running back Theo Kolybakos capped the scoring in the fourth quarter on a 7-yard touchdown jaunt en route to a 55-7 Analy victory.
“The best thing about the game was we played disciplined football,” Tigers head coach Dan Bourdon said. “We eliminated the careless penalties and our defense played assignment football and focused on doing their job and they did it well. Offensively we executed at a high level,” he added.
Newman had an exceptional night in less than two quarters of football, completing 18 of 23 passes for 230 yards and 5 touchdowns. Other offensive leaders were Brendan Medina (2-6, 11 yards passing), Vogel (4-66 yards receiving, 2 TDs), Simmons (5-58 yards receiving, TD), Eric Bendyk (5-50 yards receiving), Zamora (3-43 yards, TD, 4-24 yards rushing, 2 TDs), Kolybakos (7-59 yards rushing, TD), Johnson (1-5 yards receiving, TD) and Simpson (3-24 yards rushing).
Top defenders were Toren Callison (1 tackle, 13 assists), Connor Kearney (8 tackles), Darrick Smith (7 tackles), Todd Noonan (5 tackles), Anthony Lepori (3, 6), Jordan Parks (1, 9), Drew Valez (2, 5), Nick Chase (1, 5), Austin Burnham (1, 7), Joey Lucas (1, 3 FR), Nick Savage (3 tackles), Kolybakos (3 tackles), Gabe Reyes (2 tackles), Johnson (2 tackles, blocked punt) and two tackles apiece from Cristian Fajardo, Ethan Wallace and Dustin Wilson.
Lions comeback keys win
The Lions scored their best win of the season to date in Friday’s Homecoming clash with visiting Piner, twice erasing 10-point deficits in logging an electrifying league-opening win.
The Lions trailed 10-0 in the first quarter before a 33-yard scoring pass from quarterback Avery Ransome to freshman Jalen Hall got them on the board. Jack Fricker followed with the PAT kick and El Mo trailed 10-7 at the half.
The Prospectors struck again early in the third quarter when a long drive resulted in another touchdown to grab a 17-7 lead. The game swung for the Lions moments later when Fricker took the ensuing kickoff and raced 90 yards to the house to make it 17-14 at the end of three.
The Lions would score the game winner in the final period when Hall found pay-dirt on a 40-yard screen pass as El Mo pulled out a 21-17 win.
Although no official stats were available, the Lions’ defensive unit was led by Sire Clark, Jake Peter, Robert Rader and Fricker.
