PETALUMA, CA - Petaluma led the entire way comfortably and went on to defeat rival Casa Grande, 61-49, in a non league contest in front of a huge crowd with an Egg Bowl-like atmosphere at the big house on Tuesday night.
A pair of three pointers by Jack Anderson and Devin Gotschall broke open the Trojan lead to 55-40, and that sealed the deal for the Trojan victory. Anderson would start the Petaluma student section “goodbye” chants with a thundering slam dunk in front of the Trojan crowd. Gotschall and Anderson would end up with 24 points apiece.
“That was both their best game probably of their high school careers,” said Petaluma head coach Scott Behrs.
“It was the hardest game we have played all year, and it is great to build off of. It sets the tone for the rest of the season,” Gotschall added.
Ian Ceruti got Casa Grande going with a three pointer to give Casa the lead early on. Gotschall started off his big night with a shot from the key to give Petaluma a 6-3 lead. A little scuffle kept the intensity high in a capacity crowd on the east side of town. Whitaker Ellis would add a three to push the lead to 9-3 in favor of Petaluma. Sloppy play by Casa Grande lead to Petaluma getting extra chances, and thus getting to the free throw line, where the Trojans connected on all six attempts. Sophomore Taiju Grant for Casa Grande would put one in as the teams went back and forth in an intense fashion, as Petaluma led 17-11 after one.
It was an even second period, as Garrett Siebels started to assert himself for Casa Grande. He scored 11 of the 15 points for Casa in the period, including a three pointer to start the period. Gotschall for Petaluma continued his hot start for knocking in a pair of shots, and towards the end of the period, hit four free throws to push the Petaluma lead to 33-26. Petaluma made 13 of 14 free throws in the first half.
“That's the best we've shot free throws in my three-plus years as head coachn” said Behrs.
Brendan O’Neill got Petaluma going to begin the second half with a three point bucket of his own, but then would turn up the defense to provide offense. A steal and then an assist to Trey Davis caused Casa Grande to begin burning timeouts, taking one with just under four minutes left in the period. Siebels kept his big night going, recording a pair of buckets and a pair of steals. Noah Bailey recorded his first field goal with a buzzer beater to end the period for Casa Grande, but Petaluma still led 45-36 going into the final period.
Petaluma (3-3) defeated Casa Grande for the third straight year, and will take on future league opponent Vintage on Friday night in Napa.
Casa Grande (1-5) will host Analy in their own Brett Callan Memorial Tournament on Thursday night
