SAN RAMON - A short punt late in the second quarter came back to haunt Heritage, as San Ramon Valley sophomore quarterback Jack Quigley found Jered Kenny wide open in the left flat. Kenny ran over a defensive back and stayed in bounds along the left sideline to score with 39 seconds left in the first half, giving the Wolves an insurmountable lead as the teams headed to the locker room, in an eventual 34-7 victory for San Ramon Valley.
Quigley wound up throwing for three touchdowns in his debut as the varsity starter, while senior running back Jacob Himan reached the end zone three times, twice on the ground and once through the air. Quigley also connected with tight end JP Murphy for the Wolves’ final score of the night, part of a big second half performance for Murphy, who finished the night with four catches for 87 yards. Kenny added a key interception in the first half to go with his touchdown reception.
“I thought that overall our defense played well, and we hit some key throws offensively that set up our run game to have success,” said San Ramon Valley coach Aaron Becker. “Heritage had a good game plan and forced us to make some adjustments in order to win. We knew at halftime that we needed to get JP more involved in the second half.”
Himan scored the only points of the first quarter, as the Wolves took advantage of a short field for their first drive. A short Heritage punt after the Patriots’ first possession gave San Ramon Valley the ball inside the Heritage 35-yard line, and Himan’s four-yard scoring run made it 7-0, halfway through the first quarter. Heritage drove inside the San Ramon Valley red zone a couple possessions later, but Kenny ended the threat with an interception at the 11-yard line, early in the second quarter.
After taking over following the turnover, Himan got the Wolves out of their own territory with a long run down the left sideline, and Griffin Turner then went off right tackle for a solid gain inside the Heritage 10-yard line. After a short loss, Quigley dumped the ball to Himan in the right flat, and Himan sliced through the defense for his second score of the night and a 14-0 lead. In his first varsity start, Quigley completed 14-of-23 passes for 186 yards.
The Wolves made good on Becker’s adjustment to get Murphy more involved on their first drive of the third quarter. A play-action pass found the tight end wide open behind the Heritage defense for a long gain, and Himan finished the quick drive with a seven-yard scoring run for a 27-0 lead after the extra point was blocked. Himan ended up with 91 yards on 15 carries, to go with three catches for 37 yards.
Heritage threatened at the end of the third quarter by driving once again into the San Ramon Valley red zone, but an apparent first down catch was ruled to be short of the sticks on fourth down, giving the ball back to the Wolves. The Patriots did reach the end zone on their next possession, however, when Tony Zalec broke a couple of arm-tackles near the line of scrimmage to dash 52 yards off the left side.
Heritage will look to rebound at Foothill next Friday, after the Falcons lost in overtime to San Leandro. San Ramon Valley is off next week before taking on a loaded Monterey Trail team the following Friday.