Football: Sonoma Valley improves to 5-0 vs. Piner

Sonoma Valley improved to 5-0 on Friday night with an explosive second half to defeat Piner 35-7 at home to win the first league contest in the Mountain Division of the Redwood Empire Conference.

It wasn’t easy as the score was only 14-7 at halftime as both teams lost the ball too much, but the Dragons scored 21 points in the second half and put the game away.

Top takeaways

The Dragons’ defense certainly did its part, with two interceptions by Austin Hughes and Hudson Giarritta (who returned his for a touchdown), but it was the offense that rumbled all night.

Specifically, it was Cayden Waldrop who was banging around all night long.

Waldrop is starting to establish himself as one of the top running backs in the area this season, with a 16-carry, 146-yard, three-touchdown performance Friday night. He scored the first two points on runs of 2 and 4 yards, respectively, but the icing on the cake was his 40-yard scoring dash early in the fourth quarter. The slugger also broke off runs of 10 yards or more five times. He now has 10 rushing touchdowns this season and is no doubt a key factor in Sonoma’s undefeated start.

Although everything went well for Piner in the first half – including a fumble recovery and an interception – things just fell apart for the Prospectors in the second half. But if there’s one bright spot in the game, it’s that quarterback Soso Prak is fun to watch. The junior fits the mold of a dual-threat quarterback perfectly, using his legs to make plays out of almost nothing and his left arm to find his talented receivers. There was no better example than Piner’s scoring play when Prak took the snap late in the first quarter and Apollo Pereira missed a 41-yard shot.

Quotable

“Our guys are playing hard and I’m very pleased with our physical condition so far,” said Sonoma Valley head coach Max Pond. “Hats off to our offensive line and our running game, that’s what kept us going. We felt like they were getting tired as the game went on and we took advantage of that.”

“I couldn’t be more proud of the courage and hard work; “This is the physicality of a team that we will see all season,” Piner head coach Adam Rosenstein said. “We stuck with them and found out we were pretty strong physically and that makes me excited to continue playing in the league.”

Next

Sonoma Valley faces San Rafael (3-1), which defeated Healdsburg 18-13, in another crucial league matchup. The Prospectors travel to Santa Rosa (2-2), where a bye week is over.

Reach Staff Writer Kienan O’Doherty at 415-887-8650 or [email protected]. On X (Twitter) @kodoherty22.