SAN ANSELMO - Sir Francis Drake-San Anselmo scored two touchdowns in the second quarter plus a safety to pull away early in a 46-6 win over Healdsburg, in a Saturday afternoon season opener for both schools.
An eight-yard touchdown run by Phoenix Lynch with 4:07 left in the first half, followed by a safety by Marty Conway, and then a touchdown run by Jack Raskowsky from four yards out extended the Pirates' lead to 27-6, and effectively put the game away as the teams headed to the break.
“We scored seven touchdowns, and they were all scored by seven different players. I loved the unselfishness I saw on the field today. The guys are really buying into it,” said Drake head coach Roy Giorgi.
Drake quarterback Zack Atkinson started the scoring for the Pirates with a 37-yard touchdown to Ajai Fleissbach on fourth-and-20. It didn’t come easy, as Drake committed three penalties and burned through two timeouts on their very first drive en route to the touchdown.
“We are young and that’s what mistakes young teams make. They’re stupid mistakes but we will learn from them,” Giorgi said.
Healdsburg, which was back for its first game after canceling the season after two games last year, had a pretty good opening drive. Quarterback Cole Conley led the Greyhounds down the field, mostly on a 48-yard pass to Jacob Preciado. After getting to the one-yard line, Drake stopped them cold twice before giving way to big running back Brian Garcia for Healdsburg’s first points since Nov. 3, 2017.
“Healdsburg has a good coach. He’s a good guy and he’ll get them going in the right direction. Stability is huge in high school athletics and if he can be a stable force in that program, they can get back to being a great program,” said Giorgi.
Healdsburg got the ball back, but then Milo Braun recovered a Greyhound fumble. Max Wilson was happy about that, as he then broke off a 56-yard touchdown run to push the Drake lead to 13-6. Denzel Castillo padded Drake’s lead even more with a three-yard touchdown run to start the second half as the scoreboard read 33-6 lead for the Pirates. Braun then got some action on the offensive side, catching a 35-yard touchdown pass from Atkinson, pushing it to 39-6.
Ren Gaul, one of the captains of the Pirates' team, was ejected for having three personal foul penalties called against him. The final straw was a roughing the kicker on a punt. According to coach Roy Giorgi, a warning was indeed issued after the second personal foul.
“None of the penalties were egregious. One of them was him just ended up falling on the guy as he was going out of bounds and had nothing he could’ve done to avoid it. The final one was a very ticky tack call, as I think Gaul got a raw deal. Usually when someone is thrown out of a game, it is usually for throwing a punch or swearing at a ref, which he did neither of. I’ll be fighting this hard because I want him to be able to play next week,” said Giorgi.
Atkinson was 5-of-18 for 149 yards passing. Lynch had 10 carries for 133 yards, and Lopez had 8 carries for 107 yards.
Drake had 460 yards of total offense.
Per CIF rules, Gaul will be suspended for Drake’s upcoming game at St. Helena next Friday.
Healdsburg will host Justin Siena at Rec Park next Friday.
Around the NCS
Novato snapped a 20-game losing streak with its first victory since late in the 2016 season, rolling past American, 30-6. Senior running back Kevin Hall started things with a score on the ground for an early 8-0 lead, and the Hornets never trailed. Hall also connected with Myles Gibson for a first-half score, and Nixon Calderon provided some breathing room to start the second half when he returned the kickoff for a 23-6 advantage. Jonaven Hill capped the scoring with a 45-yard jaunt.
Senior quarterback Matt Sargent tossed three touchdown passes to lead San Marin past Kelseyville, 28-6. Senior Will Hickey was on the receiving end for two of those scores, while Dante DiMare and Nico Lofrano each added a touchdown, with DiMare's score coming on the ground.
Julian Deraffele's late 70-yard touchdown reception wasn't enough for Terra Linda, as the Trojans fell on the road to Ukiah, 13-7. A 15-yard touchdown run by Jason Angulo was the big score for Ukiah, which also had an early safety.
Nate Grant ran for a pair of touchdowns to lead Bradshaw Christian past Salesian, 24-7.
Sacramento scored three times on defense, on a 60-yard interception return, plus fumble returns of 40 and 99 yards to pull away from Rancho Cotate in a sloppy Saturday night game at Sacramento City College, with the Dragons winning 24-6.
Senior editor Nate Smith contributed to this roundup
