Sonora football wants to ‘finish the job’ this season

The way Bryan Craig sees it, the Sonora High School football program came too close to be content now.

The Wildcats came within a whisker of defeating mighty Central Catholic in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV final last fall.

The Raiders escaped with a 42-35 win, their narrowest postseason victory margin in capturing their third consecutive state title.

The loss did little to spoil the Wildcats’ banner season, though.

Sonora went unbeaten to win its first Mother Lode League crown and finished with 11 victories, the program’s most in more than a decade, according to MaxPreps, which began keeping records in 2004.

Sonora’s only two losses were to Valley Oak League teams, including a season-opening 28-14 setback at rival Oakdale. The VOL was the Stanislaus District’s toughest conference, qualifying four teams for the postseason.

Having come thatclose to the program’s first section title since 1995, Craig naturally wants another crack.

Craig is entering his seventh season at the helm of the storied foothill program, where he is 43-26.

“We want to get back there. We fell a touchdown short,” he said. “We want to get back there and finish the job, especially with Central Catholic out of there now.”

And there’s the twist. The Raiders move up in weight class this season after winning their third consecutive Division IV title. The section mandates that a team that wins three consecutive championships move up a division the following year. So Central Catholic will have to slug it out at the Division III level this fall.

While the move puts Central Catholic’s hopes of four straight section and state titles in limbo – all three of the Raiders’ losses in 2014 came against large schools – the move makes the Wildcats the prohibitive favorite in Division IV.

For good reason, too. Sonora returns a bulk of its skill players from an offense that racked up 545 points, including the triggerman in its triple-option offense. Quarterback Sam Page completed 57 percent of his passes for 1,058 yards while distributing the ball to a fleet of running backs.

Three of Sonora’s top six ballcarriers are back, too, including highly touted fullback/middle linebacker Bradley Canepa, the nephew of Central Catholic coach Roger Canepa. The junior has emerged as a leader on both sides of the ball. The younger Canepa scored on a 2-yard burst against his uncle’s defense in the Division IV final and averaged nearly 7 yards per carry in nine regular-season games. He also had 77 tackles.

Wyatt Faughnan is Sonora’s top returning rusher. The senior slotback averaged 13.4 yards per carry, totaling 601 yards on 45 carries. The other slotback, senior Jayden Estrada averaged 11.1 yards per carry, running for 354 on 32 attempts. He was one of five Wildcats to rush for at least 350 yards.

The only question that haunts Craig this late in the summer: Can the triple option gain traction behind an overhauled offensive line?

For all the experience Craig returns on offense, only guard Blake Graham has started a varsity game. Graham is a 6-foot-2, 245-pound senior.

The holes will be filled with juniors making their varsity debuts. The Wildcats did taste success at the freshman-sophomore level last fall, winning the Mother Lode League title.

The move to a smaller league served Sonora well. That same group was 0-10 in the Valley Oak League as freshmen. With that in mind, Craig realizes the toughest obstacle could be his own team.

“Our juniors have to step up and show us something,” he said.

This story was originally published July 21, 2015 at 6:03 PM with the headline "Sonora football wants to ‘finish the job’ this season."