There is an old football joke that a team was beaten so
badly in a game that they should have never gotten off the bus.
Bella Vista was that team Friday night. Cosumnes Oaks,
stinging from back-to-back Capital Valley Conference losses the previous pair
of games, took their frustrations out on the Broncos to end their losing
streak, 70-8.
“I knew we’d have some success against (Bella Vista),” head
coach Derick Milgrim said. “We needed this game to get our offense going and
back on track.”
Last week his Wolfpack lost a 42-41 overtime heartbreakers
to conference leader Antelope, Cosumnes Oaks’ second loss in a row.
The evening was Christian McFarland’s. He became a threat to
go the distance each time he touched the ball. He did that exact thing twice in
the first half when Cosumnes Oaks totaled 56 points.
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| Christian McFarland on his way to a 55-yard catch-and-run in the 2nd quarter |
“I knew we would come out hard after those two losses,” he
said. “I knew we would destroy the next team in front of us. Every time I
touched the ball I knew I needed to make a big play.”
McFarland scored from a yard out near the end of the first
quarter to make it 21-0, Wolfpack. His thrilling 51-yard punt return to the
Bronco four -yard line led to Jarrod Green’s TD run on the next play.
On Cosumnes Oaks’ next possession, McFarland grabbed a swing
pass from quarterback Maurice Hayden,
Jr., fooled a couple Bella Vista defenders with a terrific move, then cut
across the field and scored on a stellar 55-yard catch-and run to bring the
score to 49-0, Wolfpack.
“I kinda set him up for it,” McFarland described an
impressive move on a Bronco defensive back during the run. “ I slowed down and
then when I was ready, I made my move.”
Dante Davis scored on runs of one and 50 yards and was on
the receiving end of a Hayden pass for a 25-yard score just 4.3 seconds before
halftime. Hayden also had a third TD pass, a 59-yard connection with Hunter
Lunsford.
“I felt like anytime (McFarland) would touch it , he would
go,” Milgrim said. “I felt like anytime Dante Davis touched it, he would go.
And we had a few other kids who when they touched it, I felt like they could go
and they almost did.”
And, the Wolfpack defense made a statement not allowing Bella Vista across the 50-yard line until the Broncos scored their lone touchdown mid-way through the fourth quarter.
At 5-3 overall and 3-2 in the CVC, the Wolfpack can pretty
much assure themselves of a spot in the Sac-Jaoquin Section’s Division I
playoffs with a win either this week at Whitney or in the season finale at home
against Ponderosa.
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| Lew Lassiter's defense didn't allow Bella Vista across the 50-yardline |
The top two clubs in the CVC are assured a spot in the
post-season. Antelope defeated Del Campo, 27-20, Friday to go to 8-0 in the
season while the loss is the Cougars’ first conference defeat. Because Del
Campo (6-2, 4-1) defeated the Wolfpack, 21-14 on Oct. 9 and Whitney, 40-39, on
Oct. 2, they are pretty much assured of a second-place finish if they can win
its last two games.
“This week we were looking at 4-3 and 2-2 in the league and
we felt like the record didn’t indicate the kind of club we are,” he claimed.
“Yes, we lost by three in one game, by seven and by one, we had the
opportunities in every single game to win it in the red zone in the last minute
or so. We came up just short. I think that gave us a little fuel, a little
motivation.”
“If we can build on this then we’ll make the playoffs and
even make some noise in the playoffs,” he added.
Last year, the Wolfpack won the CVC championship and was the
number five seed in Division I. But, they lost to Monterey Trail in the first
round.
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