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St. Vincent’s 39-14 defeat of Maria Carrillo on Saturday afternoon in Petaluma ended the Redwood Empire Conference’s Bay division title race in a three-way tie between the Mustangs, Pumas and Ukiah.
St. Vincent starting quarterback Gabe Casanovas left the game in the second quarter due to a hit to the head on a run.
Head coach Trent Herzog said pulling the QB was precautionary and he would be surprised if Casanovas did not play in round one of the NCS playoffs.
“When there’s a head injury we’re going to be really safe, even if it’s our star quarterback and a two-time state champion,” Herzog said. “It’s about being safe and we don’t want to risk anything.”
Casanovas left the game after amassing 31 passing yards, 101 rushing yards, two rushing touchdowns and a passing touchdown.
His longest rush was a 35-yard touchdown.
Junior quarterback Willy Pedersen came in and threw for two touchdowns and went 11-for-18 passing for 234 yards.
“He can really throw the football and he proved that today,” Herzog said of his backup quarterback. “He came in today and delivered.”
Herzog said Pedersen gets 25-30% of offensive snaps at practice to prepare each week.
“My coaches are very detail oriented; they get me prepared every week,” Pedersen said. “They know that if Gabe goes down then I have to go in, I got to be ready.”
St. Vincent wide receiver/cornerback George Chaput said his team has serious trust in Pedersen as a backup quarterback.
“We know that he knows the offense,” Chaput said. “Me and Willy have had the connection since freshman and sophomore year and it all leads up to these things.”
Herzog said the Mustangs took this week of practice very seriously, especially when they had to change a lot of reads and keys on defense to combat the Pumas’ offense.
“Maria Carrillo is very impressive on film, especially their last five or six games, and our kids watched a ton of film this week,” Herzog said. “Coach (Jay) Higgins has done an amazing job and I would say he’s the coach of the year in this area for what he has done with that team this year.”
Practice was a bit ugly early in the week for the Mustangs, according to Herzog.
“But about Thursday, I started feeling good about ourselves and then Friday we felt really good about the plan we had defensively and obviously it worked,” Herzog said.
Hudson Kensic led the Mustangs defensively with 11 tackles and two tackles for loss.
St. Vincent’s loss to Ukiah three weeks ago woke up the Mustangs, according to Herzog.
“Since that loss, our players have grinded harder than ever and they’re taking it a lot more seriously,” Herzog said. “We’re happy to be a one seed and we’re happy to be co-league champs.”
Now, Herzog said his players have to take it one day at a time, one week at a time and one opponent at a time with the playoffs arriving.
“If we do that, the sky’s the limit,” Herzog said. “We’ve got a very talented team; a lot of the juniors stepped up today.”
One of those who has stepped into a starting role due to injury is running back Levi Kennedy, filling in for Mason Caturegli.
Kennedy finished with 15 carries for 106 yards and one touchdown.
Saturday also was senior day for St. Vincent and Herzog called this team’s seniors one of the best classes he’s ever coached.
“A lot of those guys are going to play college football,” Herzog said. “We’re going to play another week. Hopefully we are going to play another four or five more weeks.”
The Pumas’ two touchdowns were scored by Estefan Ramirez, who had a 65-yard touchdown reception in the second quarter and a six-yard rushing TD in the fourth.
Higgins said the Pumas thought it was going to be a closer and more competitive game.
“We’ve been handling all the curveballs that come at you in the season fairly well until today,” Higgins said. “It’s disappointing to have this game go the way it went.”
Ramirez finished with 86 receiving yards and 34 rushing yards.
“He really found himself early in this season,” Higgins said of Ramirez. “In my view, he’s the best player in the county.”
Pumas quarterback Cooper Bluestone finished with 194 passing yards on 8-for-11 passing.
“I think he has been a real pillar of our team,” Higgins said. “He’s been clutch.”
Both teams will now wait to learn their opponents for tnhe first round of the playoffs.
“We’re very prepared, we’re very seasoned in the playoffs,” Chaput said of his St. Vincent squad. “We’ve been making deep runs every year for the past couple of years and I think we understand what it takes to be a great team.”