Bulldogs contol football in opening home game

Sometimes when coaches make a personnel move, it works. Sometimes it backfires. The past week’s personnel move worked—big time.

Senior Trevor Kerchner is listed in the Ramona High School football program as a DB/slot back. Add another slash: DB/slot/middle linebacker.

“Trevor Kerchner had his best game as a Bulldog,” said Coach Damon Baldwin as the Ramona Bulldogs won their third straight “Wildcat Canyon Rivalry Game” 9-0 over El Capitan High School.

Ironically the defense (Kerchner and Colin Murphy) scored all 9 points. Kerchner intercepted a screen pass and returned it 19 yards for a touchdown. Murphy kicked the PAT (Murphy is a defensive back). Murphy also had an interception.

In the fourth quarter Kerchner got a blitz call from Defensive Coordinator, Ed Munyer and sacked El Caps’ quarterback, Mark Scharfenberg, for a safety and 2 points. Christian Scherer also recorded a sack for the Dawg defense.

“We knew that they liked to throw the screen pass in that situation. We knew it was coming and I stepped in and made an easy catch,” explained Kerchner after the game.

“John Henry Yorba had an exceptional game at defensive tackle,” stated Coach Mike Johnson.

The offense did everything but score. They kept shooting themselves in the foot and never ran out of bullets.

“If you would have told me that we would have 18 first downs and over 300 yards of offense and not score, I would have told you you were nuts. The offense dominated the entire game in yardage and time of possession. We were awesome from the 20 to the opposite 6 yard line. We made too many mistakes in the Red Zone,” lamented Baldwin.

Erik Ernst went seven for 15 for 120 yards hitting Seth Drake, Kerchner, Logan Peterson and Bryson Garcia with passes. Ryan Morgan rushed for 87 yards and Tyler Jackson added 68 yards on the ground.

Three fumbles and 45 yards of penalties in the red zone hurt the Bulldog offense.

“This week is Poway Week,” said Bladwin. “They have won a Division I title and are the defending Palomar League Champions. It will be our next step in our maturation as a team. We are looking forward to the challenge. They will fill their stands. I hope that we will fill the visiting bleachers. It will be a good game.”

The junior varsity kick off is at 4:30 p.m. and the varsity will tee it up at 7 at Poway High School.