Prep football: Redwood rides fast start to win over Maria Carrillo

Sure quarterback Kody Vasquez was protected impeccably by the Redwood High offensive line in a non-league game Saturday afternoon.

As grateful as Vasquez was for that, he was also quick to point out the offensive line’s run blocking – mostly for power back Sean Cunneen – opened the door for the passing game to flourish.

Vasquez, who was not sacked, completed 16 of 25 passes for 251 yards and two touchdowns and Cunneen added 152 rushing yards on 17 carries and two more touchdowns as the Giants scored the first five touchdowns in a 32-16 romp against visiting Maria Carrillo (Santa Rosa) on a bright late-summer day in Larkspur.

For Vasquez, the offensive outburst allowed him to breathe a sigh of relief.

“The first two games the offense didn’t really click,” Vasquez said. “We couldn’t seem to find any rhythm. But in this game, the offensive line got a push on the ground early and that’s what opened up the passing game.”

The Giants (2-1) wasted no time taking control of the contest.

On Redwood’s first possession Vasquez engineered a 10-play, 69-yard scoring drive, capped by Ben Vaughn’s three-yard jet sweep touchdown less than five minutes into the contest.

Cunneen did a lot of the heavy lifting on the drive, carrying four times for 32 yards and Vasquez set the touchdown table by completing a slick 12-yard, play-action pass to Ronan Ralston, who led the Giants with five catches for 76 yards.

“Sean was great in the running game – like always,” Vasquez said.

Redwood’s defense flexed on the Pumas’ first possession, forcing a three-and-out, and the Redwood offense went right back to work.

This time, the Giants chewed up yardage quickly with Vasquez finding Vaughn over the middle for 14 yards before connecting on a deep corner route to Ralston for 37 yards to the Maria Carrillo 3-yard-line.

Two plays later, Cunneen powered through the line of scrimmage and scored standing up from 3 yards out.

The Pumas finally found some offense and held the ball for nearly seven minutes but came away empty-handed when Redwood lineman Erik Johnson, who notched three sacks, pressured Maria Carrillo quarterback Cooper Bluestone into a hurried incomplete pass on a third down inside Redwood territory.

Redwood’s special teams chipped in on the Giants’ next touchdown when Isaiah Rivera recovered a fumbled punt late in the first half.

Three plays later Vasquez delivered a strike to Ashlin Quach on a deep post resulting in a 60-yard touchdown.

“That was a play we usually don’t run in practice,” Vasquez said. “But it was definitely a senior play by Ashlin. He got outside the safety on that play and once he caught it he was gone.”

Redwood ended the drama early in the second half with a couple of quick touchdowns.

After the Redwood defense forced yet another punt, Vasquez needed only four plays to travel 55 yards for another touchdown. Vasquez completed three consecutive passes capped by Ralston’s five-yard touchdown catch on a corner fade in the end zone.

Maria Carrillo’s offense kept firing blanks and Johnson’s third sack forced a punt on the Pumas’ ensuing possession.

On first down, Cunneen broke through the middle of the line, bounced outside, shed a would-be tackler in the secondary, cut back past the final defender at the 20 and polished off a 56-yard touchdown run.

The Pumas finally scored two touchdowns in a little more than a minute early in the fourth quarter, which did not make Redwood coach Allen Talley very happy.

“We played a good game on both sides of the ball and on special teams – for three quarters. We came out firing on all cylinders,” Talley said. “But we played a horrible fourth quarter. We’ve got to play four quarters of football. We played three.”

Redwood 32, Maria Carrillo 16

Non-league

Maria Carrillo  0  0  0  16  – 16

Redwood  14  6  12  0  –  32

SCORING SUMMARY

R – Vaughn 2 run (Suko kick)

R – Cunneen 3 run (Suko kick)

R – Quach 60 pass from Vasquez (kick blocked)

R – Ralston 5 pass from Vasquez (kick blocked)

R – Cunneen 56 run (kick failed)

MC – Bruce 6 run (Bruce run)

MC – Sihota 2 pass from Bluestone (Bruce run)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – Redwood, Cunneen 17-152, Vaughn 3-19, Garcia-Harrison 1-(minus-2), Vasquez 1-2. Totals: 22-171. MC, Sihota 3-4, Bruce 16-61, Ramirez 4-6, Bluestone 3-(minus-29), Ehly 1-3. Totals: 31-41.

PASSING – Redwood, Vasquez 16-25-0-251. MC, Bluestone 17-27-1 203.

RECEIVING – Redwood, Ralston 5-76, McGrath 2-45, Quach 4-81, Vaughn 2-25, Garcia-Harrison 1-3, Cunneen 2-21. Totals: 16-251. MC, Bruce 2-42, Ramirez 4-68. Gamino 1-6, Ehly 6-36, Sihota 4-51. Totals: 17-203.

Records – Redwood 2-1, Maria Carrillo 2-1.