El CERRITO – There was no mistaking it – El Cerrito made a statement with its 27-14 victory over perennial football power Bishop O’Dowd on Friday night.
“Bishop O’Dowd has a great program, they’ve been great for many years,” El Cerrito coach Jacob Rincon said, adding that in the second half “we needed to be a little more disciplined. We needed to play at a high level.”
The Gauchos (2-1), 17th in the Bay Area News Group rankings, certainly achieved that. They outscored No. 18 Bishop O’Dowd 20-7 in the second half (including the last 20 points) and limited the Dragons to 148 total yards, including 33 total rushing yards.
El Cerrito showed throughout that it has a variety of ways to gash its opponents.
Bruising running back Antonio Hines has the speed to motor through holes made by his offensive line (as he did on a 28-yard first-quarter touchdown run) and the toughness for hard yards (he bulled his way for a 7-yard TD in the third quarter). He finished with a game-high 77 yards rushing.
“He’s a big, powerful back,” Rincon said. “When he gets those shoulders downhill, he’s low to take down. At 260 pounds, it makes it tough for anybody.”
El Cerrito has tons of quickness.
Warren Smith caught six passes for 83 yards, all in the first half. Gauchos quarterback Jace Taylor’s other 11-yards passing was when he side-armed a dart into the right corner of the end zone that was caught by Robert Freeman for the final touchdown with 8 minutes, 11 seconds remaining.
Aaron Miles, a sophomore, also scored on an electrifying 87-yard kickoff return in the third quarter.
“Always a great team. Coach Rincon always does a great job,” said Bishop O’Dowd coach David Perry, whose team fell to 0-2.
The Dragons had a number of injuries to starters entering the game, including running back Matt White (broken hand) and quarterback Michael Dixon (knee). Ty Jones, a senior linebacker, played quarterback for the first time in a high school game Friday, Perry said.
O’Dowd tied the score at 7 near the end of the first half on a four-yard TD run by Jones — the fourth straight run on the drive by Jones — and a point-after-touchdown kick by Gabe Tarantino. Then the Dragons took the lead on the first drive of the second half with a 17-yard touchdown pass from Jones to Tyler Barsi.
But Miles immediately answered with his 87-yard kick return for a score. The Gauchos’ point-after-touchdown kick hit the left upright, but El Cerrito got the ball back on a fumble recovery by Jamarr Taylor on O’Dowd’s next possession, which he returned to the Dragon 36.
Seven plays later, Hines scored his 7-yard touchdown and the Gauchos didn’t look back. Andrew Nicholds also had an interception at the end of the third quarter for El Cerrito.