MILPITAS, Calif. – There’s a new sleeping giant in the Bay Area and he’s located at the south end of town.
Milpitas (2-0), ranked 15th in the San Francisco Chronicle’s Top 25, didn’t play particularly well but still had more than enough to knock off visiting and 13th-ranked St. Ignatius 17-7 on Friday nights.
The Trojans, coming off a truly impressive 45-0 win over North Salinas, allowed a scant 49 yards while piling up 373 themselves in the first regular-season meeting between the two schools.
“We didn’t play very well but you have to credit St. Ignatius for a lot of that,” said Milpitas coach Kelly King, starting his 25th season at his alma mater, 20th as the head coach. “This team has the potential to be very good we just have to stick together.”
Milpitas wasted numerous opportunities and good field position all night but got a nice performance from junior quarterback Junior London (6-foot-1, 195 pounds), who scored on a 1-yard sneak in the first quarter and finished off the game with a 58-yard scoring strike to sophomore Jordan Lockett in the final four minutes to put it away.
Jon Fullbright (15 carries, 51 yards) did a nice job running between the 20s, but this was really a game won by Milpitas’ defense, which forced talented St. Ignatius quarterback Rob Emery into just 1 completion in 14 attempts for 0 yards.
St. Ignatius’ only touchdown came only after an E.J. Silvia blocked a punt setting up a 15-yard scoring drive. It was capped by a remarkably determined 3-yard TD run from Brett Cde Baca, who was met head on at the line of scrimmage by highly-touted junior middle linebacker Maki Musika (6-2, 230) but drove him into the end zone, cutting the Milpitas lead to 10-7 midway through the second quarter.
“I’m not sure how I got in,” said Cde Baca, a rugged 6-foot, 215-pound senior who led St. Ignatius’ defensive charge as well. “(Musika) is a big boy but I just wanted to get in.”
Despite numerous opportunities, Milpitas remained just a field goal ahead and then looked in serious trouble when Jacques Beauvoir recovered a fumble at the Trojans’ 20.
Three runs put the ball at the 5, first-and-goal. Two short runs put it at the 1 on third down but senior linebacker Sifa Vea blitzed and stopped Jacob Brisbane for a 4-yard loss.
Rather than kick a potential game-tying field goal, coach Steve Bluford went for it and on fourth down, Emery was swamped for a 10-yard sack by Clayton Desilva and Eddie Carrillo.
The Wildcats (1-1), coming off a wild 29-28 home win over No. 21 Marin Catholic, never again came close to scoring.
“We were close but I wish we had just four or five different plays back,” Bluford said. “We made some critical errors but ones we’ll hopefully learn from. That was a great team we lost to. “
The game was played under dim portable lights — the standards for a set of new bright permanent lights had to be taken down because a similar set in Texas had safety issues – and the scoreboard clock never registered as well.
It made for an odd feel which was reflected in the play.
Cde Baca said Milpitas was on par with any West Catholic Athletic League team the Wildcats have faced or seen the last two years.
“Man, they are really big and fast and well coached,” he said. “They were ready to go from the onset.”
No. 3 Monte Vista-Danville 32, No. 12 James Logan-Union City 29
In a game that more than lived up to its billing, UCLA-bound quarter Brett Nottingham threw for 300 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another, and the Monte Vista defense had to make a late state to hold off the host Colts.
The performance offset a superlative effort from Logan quarterback Jonathan Willis, who rushed for 130 yards and passed for 200 more and accounted for three touchdowns.
No. 22 Casa Grande 30, Ukiah 7
In the season opener for both teams, it was the six-time defending Sonoma County League champion Gauchos (1-0) taking an easy victory from their North Bay League visitors.
The game marked the debuts for longtime Casa Grande assistant and new head coach Trent Herzog and quarterback Nick Sherry, who moves up from junior varsity with high expectations.
Sherry, a 6-5, 210-pound junior, had a solid performance in his first outing, completing 14-of-26 passes for 167 yards and two touchdowns with one interception in just fewer than three quarters of action.
Gaucho senior running back Kahlil Keys, who ran for 1,282 yards and 11 TDs last season, came out strong and finished with 111 yards on 18 carries with two touchdowns. His 1-yard plunge midway through the first quarter opened the scoring, and his 12-yard run off a delayed handoff from Sherry with 3:21 left in the third quarter accounted for the game's final points.
Ukiah got its lone touchdown on a 17-yard pass from Chad Pittman to Chris Tow. Pittman was harassed all night long by the aggressive Gaucho defense. He finished 7-for-25 for 127 yards but besides the one TD he was intercepted twice and lost three fumbles.
Petaluma 34, No. 23 Maria Carrillo-Santa Rosa 14
The Trojans (2-0) moved a notch closer to getting veteran Coach Steve Ellison (194-125-7) his 200th career coaching win with a come-from-behind victory on the road in Santa Rosa.
After a Carrillo fumble, Petaluma QB Mike Russell hit Dalton Johnson on a 32-yard TD that gave Petaluma a 12-6 lead it would never relinquish.
Sean Sullivan (11 carries, 137 yards, two TDs) led a ground game that controlled a second half that saw the Trojans rush for 231 of their 320 yards on the ground in the last two quarters.
Other games
Fourteenth-ranked Berkeley (2-0) got 216 yards rushing from Ricky Galvin in a 26-7 win at Freedom-Oakley (0-2). … According to the San Mateo Times, Palo Alto quarterback Christoph Bono, son of former 49ers and Chief signal-caller Steve Bono, completed 14 of 17 for 283 yards and accounted for four touchdowns in a 48-21 win over visiting Burlingame. … The Contra Costa Times reported that George Atkinson, son of former Raiders’ defensive back by the same name, rushed for 143 yards on just six carries and added a 40-yard TD reception as host Granada-Livermore had little trouble defeating Antioch 38-14. … According to the Contra Costa Times, Tommy Stephens threw for 174 yards and two touchdowns as host Campolindo-Moraga defeated Mt. Eden 42-7.