SANTA ROSA, Calif. – The were several twists to the story of the Cardinal Newman game with visiting De Anza on Friday night.
First, not only was it the 54th birthday of first-year head coach Richard Sanchez, but the 1986 graduate and star at Sweetwater High of National City had his old high school coach, Gene Alim, watching on the sidelines.
In the end, the biggest story was that while star running back Santino Acevedo was the focal point of the Newman offense, several other players - including some new faces - were key contributors in a 37-21 Cardinals victory.
Acevedo, a 6-0, 190-pound junior, didn’t have his biggest game of the season. That came last week in a 36-29 victory over Vintage when he ran for 159 yards and three touchdowns. However, Acevedo had three touchdowns once again, two on the ground and one as a receiver. He finished with 93 yards on 12 carries and 66 yards receiving on five receptions.
The difference this week was Sanchez was able to limit Acevedo’s carries after sophomore running back Kaize Steverson saw his first action of the season, and senior quarterback Lucas Knechtle finally found the scoring column and had his best all-around game of the season.
Steverson had 10 carries for 80 yards with most of his work coming in the second half when Acevedo was used sparingly. Steverson also scored his first varsity touchdown on a 13-yard reception.
“I’m glad we found another guy,” Sanchez said of Steverson. “He was taking some of those hits off Ace. The run game was working but Ace took too many hits.”
Knechtle ended up 13 of 20 for 122 yards with his first two touchdown passes of the season. Knechtle also rushed for a season high 61 yards on 10 carries and had a touchdown on the ground.
Newman (3-1) took a 7-0 lead it would never relinquish on a 23-yard pass from Knechtle to Acevedo. The lead stretched to 14-0 when Knechtle ran it in from five yards out.
De Anza (1-2) got a 65-yard return from Devon Gordon on the ensuing kickoff, setting up a 1-yard plunge by Malakhi Demoss to cut the lead to 14-7.
The Cardinals answered with a 10-play, 70-yard drive that ended when Acevedo scored on a 15-yard run for a 21-7 lead.
The visiting Dons were not ready to quit and they went on an 11-play, 53-yard drive of their own. A 2-yard run by Jullien Oupaxay made it 21-14 Newman at the half.
De Anza got the ball to start the second half and Gordon exploded once again, this time for a 62-yard kickoff return. From there the Dons drove all the way to the Newman 19, but the drive stalled after De Anza failed to convert on 4th-and-4.
Newman put together another long drive, but it also stalled. On came junior kicker Will Lui. On the final play of the first half, he missed a 42-yard field goal that had the distance but sailed just wide left. This time he split the uprights from 36 yards out with plenty to spare and it was 24-14 Cardinals.
After the Newman defense forced a fumble that caused an 18-yard loss on the next De Anza series, the Cardinals got the ball at the Dons 28 after a short punt and a 15-yard return by junior Nick Ayre. Four plays later, Knechtle found Steverson on the 13-yard touchdown pass and Newman had a 31-14 lead.
Acevedo had the final Newman score on a 6-yard run with 2:29 left and after De Anza blocked the PAT it was 37-14.
Gordon gave the Dons fans one last big play to cheer for when he returned the ensuing kickoff 75 yards to paydirt to close out the scoring, but by then the deal had already been done.
Jesse Meyers, a 6-2, 212-pound freshman linebacker got into the act with two sacks and Steverson and sophomore Ryan Wall shared a sack. Senior Gabriel Bardis had a fumble recovery that ended a fourth quarter De Anza drive.
One of the few negatives of the game was the young Cardinals had several penalties at key moments, made some mistakes young players make, and they didn’t wrap up on tackles, particularly on the long returns.
“The biggest problem we have is kicking off the ball,” Sanchez said. “Everybody gets penalties, right? But the dumb penalties, that’s a disciplinary thing and that’s my fault."
“The holding and stuff, that happens, those are aggressive penalties,” Sanchez continued. “But the reality is we have to fix up our special teams and our kickoffs. That was just embarrassing.”
Even so, a win is a win on it came on Sanchez’s birthday. Appropriately, the players interrupted the postgame interviews with a loud rendition of “Happy Birthday”.
The party can last a day or so, but Sanchez, the veteran high school and college coach, needs to get his Cardinals ready to face CIF Sac-Joaquin Section power St. Mary’s in Stockton. St. Mary's (2-2) has lost to De La Sale and Central Catholic-Modesto but has also defeated St. Ignatius and is coming off a 42-6 win at Bishop O'Dowd.
