Tri-County teams tangle in youth football action

Colusa

Peewees
The Colusa Cowboy peewees took home a big 39-6 victory over the Wheatland Pirates.

Colusa held a 13-6 halftime lead on touchdowns by Brian Burg and Neno Hernandez, with John Barron running in the extra point.

Burg, Barron, Dylan Jones, Austin Mitchell, Damien Garcia, Reigo Santana, and Hunter Mobley formed a defensive wall that the Pirates could not crack, and the Bostic brothers both made some big tackles.

Offense was the name of the game in the second half, as Burg and Garcia each finished with more than 100 yards rushing, and Hernandez and Burg each ran an interception back for a touchdown.

The offensive line of Mitchell, Mobley, Jones and Chris Veliz made the holes the backs ran through, and Peyton Schmidt made a big fumble recovery.

Jr. Midgets
The Colusa Cowboys jr. midgets waged a defensive battle with the Wheatland Pirates Saturday, emerging with a 12-0 victory to remain undefeated.

The Cowboys opened the scoring on a short touchdown run by Andrew Rodriguez capping a drive kept alive by a Blake Viera pass to Ryan Abele on a fourth-and-long fake punt.

The second-half score came when Ceasa Buenrestro took a fumble recovery the distance for a touchdown.

The Cowboys stingy defense has limited opponents to just 22 points in five games.

Colusa plays on the road Saturday at Wheatland.

Midgets
The Cowboys midgets ran into a tough opponent in the Wheatland Pirates, who made Colusa walk the plank by shutting them out 30-0.

The Cowboys will regroup this week to take on the Warriors in Winters Saturday.


Corning

Jr. Peewees
The defensive juggernaut also known as Corning's junior peewees kept yet another challenger scoreless as the Lions played host to the Willows Coyotes last Saturday.

Linebacker Cole Parker hammered away at the Willows offensive effort with nine tackles and one recovered fumble. Defensive lineman Nolan Peterson chalked up an additional six takedowns, two fumble recoveries and one sack.

Tackle Andrew Hernandez also added a quarterback sack to the defensive stat sheet.
 
Gavin Nye, Brian Utterback, Devin Wunsch and James Stubbs each wrestled down Willows running backs on more than one occasion.

Nathan Liddell, Jake Noble, Kye Rosero, Oscar Garcia, Raymond Mesa, Dalton Kesner and Angel Leal all had tackles to contribute to the Lions' defensive effort. Noah Maeder came in strong defensively and even smeared the Willows backfield to force a fumble. Strong safety Chase Wimer chased down an escaped Coyote running back to prevent a Willows touchdown as well.

Offensively, fullback Tanner Ashcraft and tail Dalton Kesner led the Lions' rushing game with Ashcraft averaging 15 yards per carry and Kesner averaging 10.

The Lions' single-wing offense mixed it up against Willows, throwing the ball far more than usual.

Nolan Peterson and Cole Parker had pass completions going both ways - a two-way connection: Parker to Peterson and Peterson to Parker. Devin Wunsch and Tanner Ashcraft also had solid passing completions to one another, with Ashcraft dashing into the end zone on his catch for a Corning six. Tailback Gavin Nye also punched one through the goal line, and steadfast pigskin teamster Nolan Peterson twice arrived right on time for deliveries into the end zone.
 
The Corning junior peewees will head north to tackle Central Valley on Saturday.

Peewees
The Lions peewees played host Willows on Saturday, shutting down their Coyotes counterparts by a score of 36-0.
 
Offensive linemen Dawson Spencer, Tyler Downen, Alex Cochran and Austin Fox smashed giant holes in the Willows defensive line for a bombardment of Corning touchdowns.
 
Quarterback Austin Manning helped lead the Lions' offensive surge with his passing game. Speedy tailback Chance Nelson jetted into the end zone twice during the contest. Big man Tony Carrillo powered into the end zone for another Lions six. Coy Parker broke out of the Lions' backfield for a long, tackle-breaking run for yet another six. Gunner White and Wyatt Spencer also reached the promised land with blasts into the Willows end zone.

Defensive standouts Hayden Yovich, Dustin Messmer and Mathew Arriaga laid down a fortress wall that Willows running backs couldn't penetrate.

Linebackers Gunner White and Alex Wunsch stopped the Willows advance with several tackles each. Wunsch forced a Willows fumble to give tackle Ben Meister the recovery. Defenders Alex Davila, Wyatt Hayden, and Gunner White added fumble recoveries as well.

Corning (5-1) will face the Central Valley Falcons on the road Saturday.

Jr. Midgets
The Lions jr. midgets improved to 5-1 with a 34-6 victory over the visiting Willows Coyotes.

The Lions offense dented the end zone on each of its first four possessions, with Nathan Fultz scoring on a four-yard counter; David Edson running it in from eight yards out; Tyelar Nelson lighting the board on a five-yard bootleg; and Nelson hitting Thomas Lowe in the flat with a pass that he took the distance for a 28-yard score.

The Lions' final TD came on a Fultz 60-yard dash to the end zone.

Jacob Lashley's nose for the ball on defense led to two interceptions.

Nelson completed three passes in four attempts for 60 yards; and Fultz, Edson and Lowe averaged 10 yards per carry as the Lions rushed for 210 yards.

The Lions travel to Shasta Lake City to take on Central Valley Saturday.

Midgets
The Lions midgets were downed 25-22 by Willows Saturday.

Cody Long ran for 93 yards with a touchdown and hauled in 130 yards worth of passes, and Colton Peterson rushed for 49 yards and a score as well. Also joining the scoring was Chayce Maday who ran for 29 yards and a score, and also threw for 145 yards.

David Willhite, Grant Jones, Dakota Henry, Kenny Kelly, Colton Conolly, Dakota Deines, and Dillon East were solid in their blocking duties