Santa Rosa loses 14-6 decision in first night home game

Jeremiah Park, who scored the Rangers' only touchdown, runs for more yardage in the first quarter Saturday night.

Story and photos by Joe Quinn, Correspondent

Two teams with strong records met Saturday night for the Santa Rosa Academy Homecoming football game, which was the first played under the lights at the Rangers’ campus field. Capistrano Valley Christian entered the game at 5-1, averaging 35 points per game, losing only to Calvary Chapel (4-2).

In this one, the Eagles came out on top, using a hard-gained opportunistic 14 points in beating the host Rangers, 14-6.

The Rangers scored first and looked confident as they had the only real gains of either team in the first Qtr. In fact, they put a surprise on the Eagles with a spread offense attempt on the extra point they scored an early touchdown on a 3-yard run by Jeremiah Park. It failed, but it gave the impression the Rangers were confident this was not going to be their last touchdown.

It was not to be, however, as both teams went back and forth for most of the match with breakout offense not easy to come by against the hard defensive play by both teams. Gang tackling on the edges was common on the night and showed how well coached both defensive sides are.  In the photo at left, SRA defender Nick Welty (31) moves in to make a tackle.

That, matched with the continual pressure on the quarterbacks over the night, meant that most throws by both teams were to the flanks and for short gains. Proving how tough the defenses were playing, the Eagles’ second and last TD came by way of an interception in the second quarter, deep in the Rangers’ end of the field, followed by a 90-yard plus return.

The strong arm of Santa Rosa quarterback Adam Pinard was evident throughout the game, but some dropped balls, continual pressure from the Capo defense and several untimely penalties kept the Rangers from moving the ball. Park, Justin York, Brody Worthington and Daniel Gonzalez seemed to be all over the field and in the midst of whatever was key at the time.

Continual defensive line pressure and the standout efforts of Luke Adams kept the Rangers hoping for more, and if not for the one pick-six, the game might have gone either way.

Next week, the Rangers are away at Nuview Bridge for a league game. Nuview is at 2-3 on the season but coming off a convincing 56-0 win over St. Jeanne de Lestonnac of Temecula. The Rangers also beat up on St. Jeanne early in the season, 53-7.