Hanford too explosive for mistake-prone Sonora football

Bryan Craig’s final instruction to the sea of long faces in front of him: No tears.

On a night of fumbles, missed blocks and poor tackling, what was one more blown assignment?

Held together by bandages and tape, Sonora High School came apart on the field and in the postgame huddle after its 42-18 loss to Hanford in the CIF Northern California Division IV-AA Bowl Game on a frigid Friday evening at Dunlavy Field.

Senior quarterback Sammy Page, his cheeks and eyes as red as the hair on his head, buried his face into the shoulder of Kane Rodgers, passing the baton to the Wildcats’ playmaker.

It’s Rodgers’ team now.

With one final fumble – a high snap that bounced out of his reach – Page’s decorated career was over.

“I guess I’m going to have to find a new hobby, because this has been my life for the last eight or nine years,” said Page, who led Sonora (12-2) to back-to-back Mother Lode League titles and a Sac-Joaquin Section Division V banner. “This game is something special. There’s nothing like it in the world, and it’s been a great season. I’m just sad it’s over.”

Hanford ran one play after the fumble, then settled into victory formation. As the final seconds slipped off the clock, Bullpups quarterback Ryan Johnson threw his arms into the air.

While one prep career came to a close, another is just taking flight. Johnson was 13 of 16 for 176 yards and three touchdowns in the second half as Hanford finished the Wildcats with a 22-0 flurry.

The Bullpups (13-1) will play Bonita Vista of Chula Vista in the Division IV-AA State Bowl at 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 19, in Hanford.

“We had to tackle well and control their speed, and what did we do? We didn’t tackle well, and we didn’t control their speed,” Craig said. “We knew coming in that they were a very athletic team.”

That much was clear on the Bullpups’ first play from scrimmage. Johnson (20 of 30, 247 yards, interception) dodged and dipped out of tackles, leaving a trail of Sonora defenders in his wake. The play only netted Hanford five yards, but the tone was set. Sonora would have to chase the Bullpups, the two-time reigning Central Section Division III champions.

Joseph McDaniel rushed for 202 yards. The nimble 215-pound senior did most of his work in the first half as Hanford built a 14-11 halftime lead. McDaniel scored on runs of six and two yards in the second quarter. Each time, he blasted through a Sonora linebacker to score standing.

“He’s a very physical guy,” Hanford coach Josh Young said. “He put us on his back, and we rode him in there.”

If McDaniel was the straight-ahead jab, Juwuane Hughes was Hanford’s knockout punch. The dynamic wide receiver made all six of his catches in the second half for a game-high 120 receiving yards, highlighting the decisive blitz with touchdowns on three consecutive receptions covering 56, 22 and 18 yards.

“That No. 3 was a helluva ballplayer,” Craig said. “You can’t replicate that speed in practice. We were just hoping to contain him. ... We couldn’t.”

Young said he wasn’t sure what he’d get out of Hughes, who had to be helped off the field in the first half after landing hard out of bounds on a diving interception attempt. To that point, Hughes had been held without a catch.

“He’s an electric player. He got a little banged up going for that ball. I talked to him at half, and he was good,” Young said. “We had a couple of plays to him, and you could see (his confidence) build off that. The team feeds off of him; they have all year.”

The game got away from the Wildcats quickly. After Page’s 14-yard run cut the deficit to 20-18 with 7:31 left in the third quarter, Hughes scored two touchdowns in a 78-second span to turn the nip-and-tuck regional into a rout.

Sonora’s methodical triple-option offense never developed a rhythm. The Wildcats fumbled four times – twice each in the first and fourth quarters – and Page threw an interception in the second quarter.

“It’s something that I’ll have to live with the rest of my life. It’s not something we preach, teach or practice,” said Page, who was 5 of 10 for 100 yards and one passing touchdown. “But it’s something that happens, especially with as many mesh points as we have in our offense. I’m just sad it happened in this game.”

The early turnovers didn’t hurt Sonora, which grabbed a 3-0 lead on a 25-yard field goal by Riley Garrett.

McDaniel scored on back-to-back possessions to start the second quarter to give Hanford a 14-3 lead.

The Wildcats answered immediately. Page hit Rodgers, running a wheel route, in stride for a 33-yard touchdown to make it 14-11. The drive was kept alive by a six-yard rush by Rodgers on fourth and two.

While tears rolled off the cheeks of many of the seniors, junior Nate Gookin found the silver lining in the Wildcats’ first loss in 14 weeks.

“We didn’t execute as perfect as we would have liked, but it was still great getting here,” said Gookin, the Mother Lode League Defensive Player of the Year. “This is the first time we’ve been here. We wanted to come out here, have fun and be a family. I can’t explain how fun this has been.”

This story was originally published December 12, 2015 at 2:28 AM with the headline "Hanford too explosive for mistake-prone Sonora football."