BY HAROLD ABEND
ROHNERT PARK, Calif. – Defense was the strength of Rancho Cotate last season and nothing has changed after the homestanding Cougars followed up a solid defensive performance last week in a win on the road in Ukiah with another defensive gem in a 24-6 win over Redwood-Larkspur on Friday night in their home opener.
“A 2-0 start is a good place to be and our defense has been stellar,” remarked Rancho Cotate head coach Gehrig Hotaling. “But we have some issues that we can improve on but who doesn’t?”
The defense of a Rancho Cotate team that will play in the new Redwood Empire Football Conference “A” Adobe League was even stingier against a Redwood team that will be playing in the new “B” Valley League.
Rancho Cotate defense gave up a handful of big plays but all told it only amounted to 216 yards of total offense.
The Cougars offense wasn’t exactly blowing the lights out on the scoreboard, although when the field lights went out for a half hour with around two minutes left in the half, the scoreboard was the only thing illuminating the stadium.
Rancho Cotate quarterback Wyatt Gregori, a 5-foot-11, 175-pound junior, completed his first three passes, including a 14-yard TD pass to 6-foot, 170-pound junior wide receiver Luke Morie that gave the Cougars a 7-0 lead they would never relinquish, but by and large he struggled to get in any real rhythm.
Gregori finished going 11-of-27 for 144 yards and two touchdowns. He also rushed for 50 yards but that included two sacks.
Primary running back Gio Martinez, a 5-foot-9, 170-pound senior, didn’t find the end zone but his rushing was one of the stabilizing factors in the Cougars offense. He finished with 84 yards on 16 carries.
After the TD pass from Gregori to Morie that opened the scoring Redwood answered back. It looked the Cougars defense had Redwood bottled up on its ensuing possession, but on third-and-seven and with Giants 6-foot-6, 190-pound senior quarterback Kody Vasquez scrambling to avoid a sack, he got away and found 5-foot-11, 205-pound senior running back Sean Cunneen on the right sidelines and he avoided several tacklers and raced 66-yards to pay dirt. The PAT was no good and it was 7-6 Rancho Cotate.
The next three possession saw two punts by Rancho Cotate and one for Redwood.
The second punt by Cougars 4.5-Star rated punter Hunter Probst, went dead at the seven leaving the Giants backed up against their own end zone. Facing third-and-three Vasquez tried to complete a slant route but Morie stepped in front of the would be receiver, picked off the pass, and took it to the house for a 26-yard pick six. That made it Rancho Cotate, or should we say Morie, a 14-6 lead.
The TD interception came with 8:36 left in the half. The next score came on a 30-yard TD pass from Gregori to 6-foot-3, 185-pound junior wide receiver Liam Griffith that gave Rancho Cotate a 21-6 halftime lead.
The final Rancho Cotate score came when senior kicker Anthony Calvillo booted home a 27-yard field goal with 6:26 left in the third quarter. From there the Cougars defense held and the offense basically ground out the clock.
Vasquez ended up with 144 yards passing, but he was only 9-of-24 and 113 of the yards came on three passes. Cunneen rushed the ball 14 times for 72 yards, but 48 of those yards came on two carries.
“Right now, the defense is carrying our team until our offense gets going, and I have full faith that it will,” Hotaling said.
As for the positives and negatives he took away from the game Hotaling had this to say.
“Effort. Our effort was amazing all over the field,” Hotaling said. “The execution at times leaves something to be desired. We need to work on offense, passing the ball, one-on-one matchups.
Up next for Rancho Cotate is a match-up next Friday with another Valley League opponent when the Cougars host a Casa Grande team they used to play regularly, but that changed when there was a previous re-alignment and its been a few years since the two teams have met.
Redwood (1-1) will need to re-group and get ready to host Maria Carrillo-Santa Rosa next Saturday afternoon.