SAN BRUNO, CA – The Woodside High football team, after a succession of missed opportunities in the first half, got down to business in the second half to defeat host Capuchiino 19-0. It was the non-league opener for both teams.
“I’m very happy with our defense overall,” Woodside coach Justin Andrews said. “Offense had some growing pains, especially in the first half, but I was pleased with how they responded in the second half.”
The Wildcats dribbled the ball all over the place in the first half, fumbling five times and losing three of them. That including coughing up a fumble on the Capuchino 3-yard line when a score seemed imminent.
But in the second half Woodside held onto the ball, led by Marcelous Chester-Riley who rushed for 110 of his 129 yards after halftime.
Midway through the third quarter Woodside finally capitalized. Sophomore Joseph King completed two passes and Chester-Riley had runs of 5 and 8 yards to move the ball to the Cap 10. Then junior running back Darnell Ellis took it right up the gut to give the Wildcats a 6-0 lead with 1:01 left in the third quarter.
Cap looked as though it might take the lead early in the fourth quarter after junior Trey Zahursky returned the kickoff 68 yards to the Woodside 20. But on fourth-and-goal from the 2, Woodside senior linebacker Guillermo Adame dumped Abnan Grajeda for a 2-yard loss to end the threat.
Woodside then all but put the game out of reach with a 10-play drive to score on Chester-Riley’s 6-yard run with 6:58 left. The drive was highlighted by a 24-yard pass from King to Chester-Riley in which the senior standout bounced off a tackler en route to a first down at the Cap 58.
Chester-Riley also added a 12-yard scoring run with 2:53 left.
Cap quarterback Teisina Fifita led his team with 55 yards rushing on 15 carries. But the Mustangs failed to muster much of a passing game to loosen up the Woodside defense which was led by Sergio Lopez, Xavier Cruz, PK Ahonima and Adame.
Despite the loss, it was not a bad effort by Cap which was a PAL-Lake team (C Division) playing a B Division team in Woodside of the PAL-Ocean.
Woodside is at Carlmont at 7 p.m. Friday. Capuchino is at South San Francisco, also at 7 p.m. Friday.
