Huge Wins And Losses
Sonora, CA — Last night kicked of the 2017 high school football season and there was plenty of action on the gridiron in week one.
It was a big night for the Summerville Bears who charged over the Denair Coyotes. With the Bears coming off of back to back 4-6 seasons, Summerville looked to start this campaign off with a bang. A 48-2 victory for Summerville notched the first win of the year and featured a rushing attack that carried for over 450 yards on the ground all between Dominic Esquvil, Jared Brick and Nick Veach.
One of the best highlights of this game was Jared Bricks 90 yard fullback dive taken in for a touchdown. The Bears look to bring a very potent running game this year lead by one of the better offensive lines the Summerville faithful have seen in years. Michael Litzler made his quarterback varsity debut and although he only passed for 42 yards he showed great confidence and lead the Bears down the field for a beautiful 96 yard touchdown drive. With the only points allowed being a muffed punt that ended up being picked up by Hunter Kronholm in the end zone and tackled for a safety, there was really no threat by the coyotes as the Bears played outstanding on defense for all four quarters.
Litzler and company will be at home again this coming Thursday as the Mariposa Grizzlies come to town for a week two matchup.
Sonora High opened its football season against their longtime rivals the Oakdale Mustangs, who are coming off last season’s State Bowl game win with19 seniors back on the field this year. Sonora is a young team with many juniors starting their first year at the Varsity level.
Oakdale drew first blood on a 51 yard passing play to open the scoring. Sonora struck right back as Kane Rodgers took a pass over the middle from Jacob Gookin and juked his way 78 yards for a touchdown to tie the game 7-7. Oakdale added another score towards the end of the first quarter and it was 14-7 with Oakdale leading at the end of the first quarter.
Oakdale owned the second quarter and opened huge holes for their running backs all night. The Sonora offense just could not seem to hit on all cylinders and was only able to score one more touchdown in the first half on a 4 yard rush from Mason Dambacher, but the point after failed.
Although the Wildcats kept fighting all night, it seemed the ball could not quite find the end zone against the Mustangs. Oakdale won by a final of 47-13. Next week the Wildcats travel to the home of the Lodi Flames.
Both Calaveras and Bret Harte played on their home turf last night with very different outcomes. Calaveras beat El Capitan, 44-24 but Truckee trounced the frogs, 61-7. Calaveras heads to Escalon next week to take on the cougars and Bret Harte has a bye week.
*Brandon Steele and Mark Ferreira contributed to this report.
