Santa Rosa football team runs away from Nuview Bridge

Santa Rosa Academy's Tim Marlow turns the corner for a big gain against Nuview Bridge Friday night.

Story and photos by Joe Quinn, Correspondent

Based on the first-quarter action, it looked to be a slow football game for the Rangers of Santa Rosa Academy against Nuview Bridge Friday night. Things certainly heated up later, however, with Santa Rosa scoring a 40-20 victory.

There was little exciting play until early in the second quarter. The first score came with 7:16 left in the period when the Nuview quarterback connected for a long gain to the Ranger 1-yard line. From there, the Knights pushed it in, but missed the point after, taking a 6-0 lead.

Santa Rosa gave the ball right back and the Knights scored almost immediately at the 5:15 mark on a well-executed 70-yard reverse that caught the Rangers over-pursuing. With the lead at 12-0 and things not looking positive for the Rangers, Tim Marlow surprised the Knights and took it 45 yards for the TD to close it to 12-6.

From there, things continued to go the Rangers’ way as they scored quickly twice more before the half, taking an 18-12 lead into the locker room.

The second half went the Rangers' way from the start. Markus Jones got it going with a long TD run off the right side and Marlow dove for the two-point conversion. The Rangers scored twice more in the final two quarters, holding the Knights to only one TD in the second half.

Great ball and clock control by the team and the coaching staff closed out the game on the Knights’ 5-yard line with the Rangers on top by 20 points.

In addition to the long gains by Marlow and Jones, some notable plays were made by Titus Ortiz in talking down an interception in the second quarter and by the defense on key stops causing several fumbles by the Knights, both at the line of scrimmage and downfield after gains. Those plays were key to the rapid Ranger scores in the last three quarters.

The Rangers’ next match-up is a home game against the Fairmont Prep Huskies of Anaheim on Oct. 5.

Markus Jones gets behind the defense and races for a long touchdown run.

Titus Ortiz (21) prepares to step in and intercept a Nuview pass for Santa Rosa in the second quarter

The Santa Rosa Academy cheer squad gave the football team enthusiastic support.