Sundevils defeat Bulldogs in football league opener

Ramona High School’s football team opened Palomar League competition at Mt. Carmel High School on Friday, but the Sundevils took a 45-31 victory at Ramona’s expense.

“They just were a better team,” said head coach Damon Baldwin.

Ramona entered league play with a 3-2 record, so the loss gave the Bulldogs a season mark of 3-3 along with the 0-1 league figure. Mt. Carmel improved to 5-1 for the overall season.

“Right now everybody in our league is having a huge year,” Baldwin said. “Everybody’s winning and everybody’s playing well.”

Mt. Carmel quarterback Lucas Johnson is expected to sign a letter of intent next month to play college football.

“We just had a really hard time containing him,” Baldwin said.

Johnson learned quickly not to throw to Ramona safety Tristan Stacy, who has been a wide receiver and made his defensive debut against the Sundevils.

“He had a great game,” Baldwin said.

On the first offensive play of the game, Stacy intercepted a pass and returned the ball for a touchdown. Hunter Gurrola kicked the extra point for a 7-0 Ramona lead. Gurrola’s kickoff was followed by another pass intercepted by Stacy and returned for a touchdown.

Those were the only two interceptions Johnson threw. His other 24 passes included 13 completions for 129 yards, and he threw a 19-yard touchdown. Johnson’s passing was overshadowed by his rushing. He carried the ball 42 times, gained 309 yards on the ground, and rushed for five touchdowns including one for 85 yards.

Ramona quarterback Marco Cobian also had two interceptions and one touchdown pass to Grady Vazquez, and he also had a rushing touchdown. He completed 16 of his 30 passes for 294 yards.

Gurrola kicked all four extra points and also had a 34-yard field goal.

“He did a phenomenal job on his kickoffs as well,” Baldwin said.

The special teams contributions also included punts of significant distance by Noah White, and in the fourth quarter White successfully ran a fake punt play for a first down.

“Noah White is probably one of the best punters in the county,” Baldwin said.

The Bulldog’s passing game has been extremely effective, Baldwin said.

“We have to get the rushing game going,” the coach added.

Some of the rushing struggles — as well as other team challenges — have been due to injury losses.

“It’s hard to play some of these teams that are having great years when you don’t have your full squad available,” Baldwin said. “We’ve just got to keep working through that.”

Baldwin expects most of his injured players to be back in time for the playoffs.

“Right now we’re just focused on the weekly tasks,” he said. “We’re just going to keep trying to get better every week.”