Rams roll over Warriors 42-27

Sarinana races for 104 yards, 3 TDs

By Dick Sparrer

Cries of "watch the bootleg" came from the Willow Glen sidelines as Yerba Buena set up to run an offensive play from inside its own 5-yard-line.

And with the snap, the Yerba Buena quarterback started to roll out.

The Willow Glen coaches had seen it coming, and so had defensive end Adrian Morales.

The rugged junior came up to hit the ball carrier before he was able to turn the corner. But Morales didn't just hit the quarterback, he separated him from the football.

The ball bounced free in the end zone, and Steve Lopez pounced on the football for Willow Glen's first defensive touchdown of the season.

More importantly, it put a little distance between the Rams and the Warriors and started Willow Glen on the road to a 42-27 victory.

The win was the second in three outings for the Rams in the West Valley Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League. Willow Glen is now 2-4 for the year.

"I was really glad to see us get our first defensive touchdown," said Willow Glen head coach Bob Parker. And he was glad to see his Rams get a win over a Yerba Buena club that he expected to be pretty tough.

"I thought Yerba Buena was going to be better," the coach said.

Still, the Rams got off to a slow start and found themselves trailing early in the game.

Parker indicated that the Rams did not get their complete pre-game warm-up and that they started the game slowly.

The Warriors went up 7-0, then marched down to the Willow Glen 5 on their next possession. The Rams held defensively, and Yerba Buena missed a field goal try.

"We could have fallen behind 14-0 and should have been behind 10-0," Parker said. "But after they missed that field goal, we seemed to loosen up. The players seemed refocused."

The Rams marched in for a touchdown, Frank Sarinana capping a drive with an 11-yard TD run. It was just the start of an impressive day for the junior back, who carried 12 times for 104 yards and three TDs.

"He had a big day," said Parker of Sarinana. "He finds a hole and can really cut it up."

Willow Glen took the lead for the first time in the game when Steve Lopez, who finished with 75 yards on 16 carries, scored on a 13-yard run. Quarterback Justin Johnson tossed to Matt Morrow for the 2-point conversion, and the Rams took a 14-7 lead--a lead they would never relinquish.

The Warriors battled back with a TD to cut the gap to 14-13, but Sarinana took off on a 43-yard touchdown run in the second period to put the Rams on top 20-13.

That's when the defense went to work. Willow Glen pinned YB deep in its own territory, and Morales came up on the bootleg "to really pop" the quarterback and force the fumble that Lopez recovered for the touchdown. Lopez ran for the 2-point conversion, and the Rams were up 28-13 at intermission.

Lopez scored on a 1-yard run in the third quarter and Johnson hit Mark Sarinana for a 2-point conversion. But the Rams couldn't shake the Warriors.

Yerba Buena scored early in the fourth to cut the lead to 36-21.

The Rams were in trouble when a sweep went for a 5-yard loss, and a clipping penalty pushed them back 15 more. But Johnson tossed a 27-yard pass to a wide-open Tista Perri for a first down at the Yerba Buena 3.

Frank Sarinana scored on the next play, and Willow Glen held a comfortable 42-21 lead.

Yerba Buena scored one more time, but it came with no time remaining in the game.

"By the half we had just about demoralized them," Parker said. "We were calling every play they ran, so we had scouted them pretty good. But they still were getting yards on us, which is frustrating. We're just plagued on defense by mental errors."

That's not a problem shared by Morales.

"He's our best defensive player right now," said Parker of the junior defensive end. "He had two big backs and caused the fumble. He just hammered their quarterback a couple of times."

The coach was also pleased with the defensive performance of junior middle linebacker Amir Faraj-Perry.

"He had two real nice one-on-one tackles on their big running back," Parker said. "You've got to have a plugger in there, and he was able to do that."

Morales was also a key offensive player for the Rams, serving as the lead blocker for Frank Sarinana and Lopez from his fullback position. Linemen Chris Jones, Joe Sparacino, Steve Nakatsu and Nate Oxsen led the charge up front.

Johnson finished the day hitting on 12 of 19 passes for 173 yards.

"He got some good protection," said Parker of Johnson. "His first five passes were complete for first downs."

Johnson tossed completions to seven different receivers in the win, hitting Morales, Morrow, Mark Sarinana, Perri, Lopez, Doug Dionne and Ryan Radjabi with passes.

The Rams will try to make it two straight this week when they visit San Jose Academy on Oct. 20, 1:30 p.m. The Bulldogs are 1-1 in league play and 2-3 for the year after losing 34-0 to Independence last week.

Saturday's 1:30 p.m. varsity game will follow the 11 a.m. frosh-soph clash between San Jose and Willow Glen. The Rams enter the game with a 3-0 league record and 6-0 season mark.

Willow Glen ran its record to 6-0 last week with a 35-14 win over Yerba Buena. A week earlier the Rams dominated Independence 27-7.

Sophomore quarterback-linebacker Chris Hobbs led the Rams to the win over the Warriors.

"He's just such a dominating force on defense," said Parker of Hobbs.

Willow Glen also kept its streak alive with an incredible sixth straight game with a pass interception for a touchdown by Ricky Munoz.

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