[Bold]Rancho Cotate-Rohnert Park (10-3) at Sierra-Manteca (11-3), Saturday, 6:00 pm
CIF North Coast Section Division 3 champion Rancho Cotate goes on the road to Manteca where the Cougars are matched up against a CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV champion Sierra team that is going to pound the ball on the ground just like they’ve done all season.
Last week, in 22-19 victory over Oakdale, the Timberwolves actually mixed in more passing then they have all season but running the football was still the staple in the game plan of Coach Chris Johnson.
Kimoni Stanley, a 5-8, 175-pound junior led the way just as he has all season with 143 yards on 17 carries with one touchdown to give him 2,024 yards and 33 TDs this season heading into the Saturday night match-up with Rancho Cotate
Part of the reason Johnson had 5-10, 160-pound senior quarterback Shane Johnson go to the air is the Timberwolves fell behind 19-7 at the half, and while the defense pitched a shutout for the final two quarters it took some last second heroics for Sierra to pull off the upset of No. 2 seeded Oakdale by the No. 4 seed.
Sierra forced a late Oakdale punt and with time running out Johnson threw a fourth down 42-yard touchdown pass to senior receiver Nyco Mendoza for the game winning score.
With the desperation TD pass Johnson hit triple digits in passing yardage for the first time this season after passing for 107 yards and the one TD with one interception.
In all likelihood Johnson will use the running game against Rancho Cotate and another name to look for besides his running quarterback Johnson (457 yards passing, five TDs, six INT, 670 yards rushing, eight TDs) is 5-10, 160-pound senior Shane Johnson.
Rancho Cotate will counter with 6-2, 220-pound bruising senior running back Rasheed Rankin. Last week, in a 7-0 victory by the No. 2 seed over top-seeded Las Lomas-Walnut Creek, Rankin carried 22 times for 108 yards and the game’s lone touchdown. From there the Rancho Cotate defense did the rest.
Rancho Cotate will have a size advantage on the line and other area such as linebacker where 6-2, 225-pound junior Mihalis Santorineos will lead the charge. However, to beat Sierra in its own house it will likely take more than one score and other besides Ranking will need to step up on offense.
Quarterback Jared Stocker (1,942 yards passing, 22 TDs, seven INT), a 6-1, 190-pound senior, will need to make some plays and others on offense like senior running back Jayden Herrera will need to step up.
“We’re extremely excited to be playing in a Northern Regional for the first time,” Rancho Cotate Coach Gehrig Hotaling remarked. “It’s fun to prepare for an opponent we knew nothing about heading into this week.”
“They are a lot like us in a way, scrappy, high motor effort guys,” continued Hotaling. “We have a size advantage so hopefully we can lean on them a bit, but above all this is going to be a mud bowl game which we are prepared for, but rain and mud is an equalizer and this will come down to who can control the line of scrimmage in the elements and hold onto the football.”
The winner will host the state CIF Division 3-A Bowl Game next Saturday against the winner of the SoCal 3-A contest between Sunny Hills-Fullerton and Bakersfield Christian.
