Newman, Rancho, Analy open league with shutout wins

The opening weekend of the North Bay League and Sonoma County League in high school football showed that Cardinal Newman, Rancho Cotate, Ukiah and Maria Carrillo are in the hunt for a league championship, while Analy’s big win against Healdsburg has projected the Tigers into the running for an SCL crown.

Sloppy fields also made for some low-scoring games Friday as the first substantial rain hit at the start of many games in the County on Friday night.

Cardinal Newman (4-0) easily defeated Elsie Allen, 63-0, as quarterback Randy Wright threw for five touchdowns, three to Wade Amaral.

Rancho Cotate (4-0) blanked Montgomery, 33-0, in its NBL opener at home. Brian Dworkin had TD runs of 23 and 22 yards and Eduardo Farias kicked a 53-yard field goal.

Maria Carrillo (3-1) overcame a 14-0 deficit to defeat Santa Rosa, 26-14, in the first night game ever at the Rincon Valley school with Matt Hart scoring two TDs, one on a 22-yard fumble return, and Zack Sheets returned an interception 75 yards for a TD and rushed for 100 yards.

On Saturday, Ukiah (4-0) won its NBL opener, 47-7, at Piner. Quarterback Kyle Morris threw for 266 yards and three TDs, Marcos Hernandez caught a TD pass and rushed for another and safety Gabe Ott returned an interception 70 yards for a score.

In the SCL, Analy (5-0) won the battle of the unbeatens with Healdsburg (4-1), 17-0, on a sloppy Karlson Field in Sebastopol Friday. Analy’s defense came up big yet again and Isias Alcantar rushed for a TD and QB David Glass passed for another.

Sonoma Valley opened SCL play by picking up its first win of the season, 35-21, over Windsor. Nick Fedrick rushed for four TDs and wound up with 206 yards rushing on 26 carries for the Dragons. Linebacker Michael Mulas also had 13 tackles.

Petaluma won its SCL opener with a 57-0 blanking of El Molino at Durst Field Friday. Sean Sullivan rushed for three TDs, including scoring runs of 41 and 51 yards and finished with 173 yards on the ground on just 13 carries. Sophomore QB Mike Pierson threw for 146 yards for El Molino.

Casa Grande (2-1-1) lost at Napa, 28-10, and opens SCL play Friday night when it hosts Petaluma. Matt O’Brien threw for 142 yards for Casa and came up with his fifth interception of the season on defense.

The top-three ranked teams in small school all won, St. Vincent (4-0) defeating Willits, 14-2, Fort Bragg (3-1) won at St. Helena, 35-7, and Middletown (3-1) blanked Clear Lake, 34-0.

Kris Farinha rushed for both St. Vincent scores and finished with 149 yards on 26 carries on a muddy Willits field.

Jake Cimolino rushed for an Empire season-high 304 yards on 22 carries and had TD runs of 72, 36 and 41 yards for Fort Bragg.

Eric Tomko rushed for 161 yards on 20 carries and Tyler Owen added 121 yards on the ground for Middletown.

Chayton Osmon rushed for 114 yards in Cloverdale’s 30-0 win against Lower Lake and Upper Lake overcame an 18-0 deficit to defeat Kelseyville Saturday at the Cougars’ homecoming. Cloverdale and Upper Lake are both 3-1.

Upper Lake tailback Joe Barnes rushed for 170 yards and QB Brandon Quetza-Mendoza had a big second half throwing.

All the NCL I games continue as interlock, not league games.

In North Central League II play, Tomales and Rincon Valley Christian remained unbeaten in league. Tomales topped Laytonville, 40-0, Friday and RVC scored all its points in the second half to overcome a 13-0 halftime deficit and defeat Calistoga, 28-13.

Jordan Bright ran for three TDs and two 2-point conversions to lead Anderson Valley to a 42-0 win against Potter Valley.