It was another long night Friday for the Sonoma Valley High Dragon gridders.
They were without their starting quarterback – and they had to face the Analy Tigers.
The last few years, the Tigers have made a habit of bludgeoning opponents. But this year, with a new quarterback and a new coach, they haven’t been quite as formidable. Until Friday night, that is.
Sonoma’s starting quarterback Rocko Wetzel wasn’t dressed as he tweaked a knee and played only half of last week’s game against Petaluma. So Coach Bob Midgley split the signal-calling duties between Guillermo Hurtado and Andrew Beatty.
So it made for a long – or more precise a short night since the clock ran most of the second half as Analy ran up a big halftime lead and left with a 48-0 win.
It looked promising at first as Analy had a three-and-out on its first possession and a bad snap on the attempted punt gave the Dragons great field possession on the Analy 34-yard line. The Dragons moved down to the Tigers’ 5-yard line where their drive stalled and they turned it over on downs.
The Tigers drove down the field, but they too stalled and turned it over on downs to the Dragons on the Sonoma 14.
But on Sonoma’s first play, they lost a fumble and it took Analy only one play to put its first touchdown on the board. After a two-point conversion, the Tigers led 8-0.
Early in the second quarter, after a Dragon punt, the Tigers drove down the field again and on a fourth down at the Dragons 32, the Tiger quarterback found a wide-open receiver and with the two-point conversion it was 16-0.
On the ensuing possession, the Dragons started deep in their own territory. But Hurtado lofted a pass to Kole Morgan who caught it mid-stride and made it all the way to the Analy 36. But the Dragon drive was stopped with another fumble on the Analy 25.
The Dragons lost three fumbles on the night.
On the next play, Analy scored on a 75-yard pass to make it 24-0 at the 7:44 mark of the second quarter.
The Tigers scored another touchdown at the 1:47 mark and took a 32-0 lead at halftime.
Analy put another touchdown on the board in the first two-minutes of the third quarter. And scored again early in the fourth quarter to make it 48-0, which was the final score.
The loss drops the Dragons to 1-4 overall and 1-2 in the Sonoma County League.
Sonoma will try to get back on the winning track Friday night when Galena High, 4-2, from Reno comes to town. It’s also Sonoma’s homecoming game.
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