Dragons air it out against Trojans but come up short, 37-13

The Sonoma Valley Dragons, who spent the first half of the season emphasizing the run game to the almost complete absence of passing, switched midseason to an aerial attack that, while it hasn’t altered their habit of losing, makes for big yardage pickups. “Plus I think the fans really love our new style of play. It's exciting to watch,” said Head Coach Clay Jackson following Friday’s game against the Petaluma Trojans.

In Petaluma, it was the passing game that brought the Dragons their two touchdowns, the first on a goal-line grab by senior Rollo Benstead toward the end of the first quarter. Benstead, a varsity basketball starter, used his height and physicality to advantage over the Trojan defender and hauled in sophomore quarterback Trent Ohman’s pass. He ended the night with seven catches for 81 yards.

But senior Tate Baker led the team with eight catches for 132 yards and a touchdown of his own in the third quarter. Ohman’s passing game has improved every week – he made 30 attempts and 18 were completions. But his two TD passes were unfortunately more than matched by three interceptions, two of them on the first play of successive Dragon drives in the second quarter.

“Trent is young but very talented at the QB position,” said Jackson. “He is the youngest starting Varsity QB in our league, but he has all the tools. So why not groom that.” Jackson credited Ohman’s skills and Baker’s always-strong play for the team’s turnaround from the run game to the passing game.

Baker, a senior, had been a strong runner in the first half of the season as he has been a receiver in the second, running for 100 yards on Sept. 17 and 90 yards the following week. “That kid is just a great football player,” said Jackson. Baker was one of two successful kickoff returners for the Dragons, running for 30 yards on two returns Friday night; Joey Fiorito also had a pair of returns, for 47 yards.

Fiorito’s big moment in the Oct. 15 Petaluma game was a high pass from Ohman on a near-impossible fourth-and-20 situation in the third quarter. The senior went up to tip the pass his way and brought it in, then scrambled for another 10 yards for the first down and then some.

Several plays later Ohman found Baker on a short pass, who then broke tackles and reversed direction twice on his way to his third receiving TD of the year, fourth overall. It thrilled the hundred or so Dragon fans who had made the drive to Petaluma, and tightened up the score to 23-13.

Defensively Sonoma Valley showed some improvement, despite the midseason switch in game plans. Senior Miguel Molina was everywhere on defense, making eight solo tackles and assisting in six more for 14 total; Junior Mesa, and other senior, contributed 10 total, while sophomore Payden Ihrig had five solo tackles and six assists.

The prevalence of sophomores making a contribution on the field gives the coaches, and fans, reason to hope that better days are yet to come. “We are really, really young,” said Jackson. “Sophomore quarterback. Three sophomore offensive linemen. Tons of sophomores playing on defense.” Of the midseason change in offensive strategy, the coach said, “I think this was the right move for our program and its future.”

Next up for the Dragons is the Friday, Oct. 22 game in Napa against the Vintage Crushers, currently 3-1 in the Vine Valley Associated League and 4-3 overall. The school is located at 1375 Trower Ave., Napa, JV kickoff at 4:30, varsity kickoff is 7 p.m.

The following Friday , Oct. 29, was originally scheduled as a bye, a mid-season day off for the Dragons. Instead they travel to Sacramento to meet Highlands High (1-7), a make-up game from the non-league contest scheduled on Aug. 27 against Terra Linda. Both Sonoma Valley and Terra Linda varsity teams had positive COVID-19 tests that week, and their game was canceled.