Annual battle for bragging rights this Friday in Forestville
The best high school football rivalry in Northern California will be renewed this Friday, Sept. 14, when the El Molino Lions play host to the Analy Tigers in the 54th edition of the Golden Apple Bowl.
JV and varsity kickoff times are 5 and 7:30 p.m.
For the first time in recent memory, both teams enter this year’s game with identical 1-3 records, with El Molino’s win coming in a 14-7 victory over Sonoma Valley, while Analy claimed a wild 33-28 win over Terra Linda.
Although the teams no longer occupy the same league, following radical realignment, the competitive fires remain strong in a much-anticipated clash of old rivals.
“The Apple Bowl is still a big deal for us,” Analy head coach and former Tiger James Foster said. “Our school has Spirit Week leading up to the game to build excitement, and our players look forward to the rivalry.”
Last year, the Tigers captured their seventh straight win with a 55-13 rout over the Lions, extending their overall lead in the series to 30-23. The Lions last hoisted the coveted Golden Apple Bowl trophy in 2010.
The Lions will no doubt be considered big underdogs entering this year’s game, but know that anything’s possible once the teams step inside the lines.
“In order for us to be successful early, we would need to play extremely well,” El Mo head coach and former Lion Randy Parmeter noted. “There’s a chance, but we would have to do everything right.”
Players to watch for the Lions will be junior quarterback Jalen Hall, senior all-purpose back Sam Wilson-Mietz, senior quarterback/receiver Wyatt Stringfellow and senior defender Chase Nicholls.
The Tigers are led by a group of seniors that includes quarterback Nic Visser, receiver Tyler Nebozuk, linebacker Anthony Lepori and defensive back Vince Willis.
Analy posts win
The Tigers scored their first “W” of the 2018 campaign on Saturday in a wild one at Terra Linda, shocking the Trojans with a 33-28 come-from-behind victory in San Rafael. The win came after opening the season with successive losses to Santa Rosa (34-3), Encinal (42-28) and Monte Vista (55-0).
“We made some mistakes early in the (Terra Linda) game to put ourselves in a hole,” Foster said, “but our guys kept playing and really came out well in the second half.”
Visser was easily the player of the game for the Tigers, breaking loose to score the winning touchdown on the final play of the game. For the night, Visser completed 19 of 35 pass attempts for 302 yards and four touchdowns while adding 69 yards and one score on the ground. Other top performers were Nebozuk (11-150 yards receiving, 2 TDs) and Kolby Elledge (4-137 yards receiving, 2 TDs).
Lions show heart
It may be an all too often used sports cliché, but heart is the word that best describes El Molino’s gritty performance on Friday at heavily favored Petaluma. Sam Wilson-Mietz put the Lions on the board early with a touchdown run, but the Trojans reeled off 42 straight points to take a commanding lead. Wilson-Mietz converted a 30-yard field goal in the second quarter as Petaluma led 42-10 at the break.
Even after a leg injury forced quarterback Jalen Hall to the sidelines, the under-manned Lions refused to pack it in. Wilson-Mietz found pay dirt three more times in the second half (followed by successful PAT kicks), as the Lions eventually fell 56-31. Back-up quarterback Wyatt Stringfellow came on to replace Hall in a solid outing, while Wilson-Mietz turned in a Herculean effort in accounting for all 31 of the Lion’s points.
