By Mitch Stephens
MaxPreps.com
ANTIOCH, Calif. - The only thing Deer Valley senior Sonni Woods has in common with Ygnacio Valley sophomore Patrone Wood is their last names are similar.
That and they play running back.
Wood, a man child at 5-foot-10 and 225 pounds, reminds some of a young Jerome Bettis. His feet are fluid and nimble for a kid his size and he's an absolute load to bring down.
His East Bay-best 1,071 yards and 13 touchdowns coming into Friday's game with Deer Valley proves that.
"I wouldn't want to tackle him," Ygnacio Valley coach Josh Davis said.
Woods, meanwhile, is slight at 5-7 and 162 pounds, and he relies on sheer speed and being shifty. He also packs a surprising powerful punch and came into Friday's Bay Valley Athletic League showdown with less than half the yards of Wood - 89 carries for 470 yards and six scores.
"He's a gamer and tough as they come," Deer Valley senior strong safety Kevin Hom said. "I'd take him on my side any day of the week."
On Friday, the smallish senior definitely got over on the sizeable sophomore with 185 yards rushing and a touchdown as host Deer Valley-Antioch bested previously undefeated Ygnacio Valley-Concord 12-0.
Woods broke off a 70-yard touchdown jaunt with 2:02 left in the first quarter and that was all the defending BVAL champs would need.
The defense gave up just 195 yards and no scores against a squad that had scored more than 50 in three of its wins and averaged 407 yards per game.
Wood rushed for all but five of his 107 yards on 13 carries in the second half and most of those were between the 20s.
"(Wood) is a heck of a back for sure," Woods said. "But he's only a sophomore and I'm a senior. It was my time now and I got a lot of help getting it done."
The Warriors (6-1, 4-1 BVAL) came in as one of the Bay Area's big surprise teams and No. 22 in MaxPrep's Bay Area Confidential rankings. But the Wolverines (5-2, 3-2) were just more physical up front and a little faster on the edge.
They also came in with some extra motivation.
"We didn't want (Ygnacio Valley) to go undefeated in BVAL like we did last year," said Hom, a returning starter for a team that went 10-1 last season. "That was a big rallying cry for us this week. We're a young team and we're coming together just at the right time. This win was huge."
The defense played particularly large.
Contributions came all around as the line, led by Taniela Kaloni (6-3, 248), Joseph Malolo (6-1, 278), Austin McKamey (5-9, 205) and Michael Nash (5-10, 254), stuffed the inside run, linebackers Billy Foster and Damar Gaines pursued sideline-to-sideline and backs Hom (sack), Traysean Alexander (interception) and Derryle Jackson (interception) supported the run and limited Ygnacio Valley to just one completion in eight passing attempts.
On the other side, Deer Valley rushed for 305 of its 345 total yards. Besides Woods' big game, the Wolverines also got solid performances from super fleet sophomore Sean Combs and Devin Le'Gall, who combined for 111 yards rushing on 21 carries.
"We put it all together tonight," Deer Valley coach Rich Woods said. "We had a great week of practice. The guys played with a great deal of pride and emotion and the results kind of spoke for themselves."
Ygnacio Valley, a 2A school with less than half the student enrollment as Deer Valley, played a superb defensive game itself.
The Warriors held Deer Valley scoreless the second half and got sacks from Sean Bright and Loni Fa and a fumble recovery by Steven Gallaga.
"Our defense was outstanding but our offense just couldn't do what it's done all year," Davis said. "We moved the ball but didn't finish drives. We didn't finish the game."
They certainly started well on its first possession as Michael Callen, a 1,000-yard rusher last season who was injured the first five games in 2007, ripped off consecutive 17-yard runs as the Warriors drove from their own 20 to the Deer Valley 19.
But the drive stalled and on fourth down, quarterback Roger Cabriales was intercepted by Jackson, who made a diving catch at the 6.
Four plays later, Woods seemed to mishandle a shaky handoff from junior quarterback Cruz Castillo, but burst through a big hole on the right side and was never touched on his 70-yard TD run.
"Once I saw daylight I had to get it to the house," Woods said.
No one really threatened the rest of the half but Deer Valley won the field position game. With 2:33 left in the second quarter, Ygnacio Valley started on its own 4 and three plays later, Cabriales was intercepted by Alexander who returned it to the YV 37.
Hom broke off a 12-yard run and Castillo completed two passes for 21 yards putting the ball at the 4. With no timeouts remaining, Castillo rolled right looking to pass, but then scrambled into the end zone, giving the Wolverines a 12-0 lead with just 4.7 seconds left in the half.
Ygnacio Valley had only 88 yards to that point and Wood was limited to just five yards on five carries.
"Our game plan was to play physical and knock the big kid (Wood) on his butt," Hom said. "I'll give him credit. He came back hard and had a couple good runs in the second half. But we kept them out of the end zone. I'll take that over them getting yards any day."
Indeed Wood, who came in with five game of 141 yards rushing or more including a school record 281 two weeks ago against Freedom-Oakley (see run), broke off runs of 36 and 35 yards in the third quarter. But besides those two carries, he had just 36 yards on 11 attempts (3.3 per carry).
"We had 11 guys pursing to the ball all night," Hom said. "There's no better feeling that to complete a great week of practice with a big win."
Said Woods: "It took us some time to put put it together this season but we're jelling at just the right time."
E-mail Mitch Stephens at mstephens@maxpreps.com.
