Football: Amador Valley Falls to High-Powered Concord

Concord 36, Amador Valley 23

The Star: Amador Valley DB/WR Carson Ewanich caught a 22-yard touchdown pass, intercepted a pass and returned a punt 64 yards, setting up a third-quarter touchdown.

The Turning Point: Late in the third quarter, Concord blocked a punt then scored on Ricky Lloyd's 14-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Kelly Starnes, putting the Minutemen ahead 20-16.

The Quote: "He's very good. He does a great job reading (defenses). I think early in the game we did a good job of kind of reading him and being on it. I thought later on he did a good job of looking players off and making some plays. That's a tribute to him and his receivers." – Amador Valley coach Rick Sira on Concord QB Ricky Lloyd, who completed 41 of 54 passes for 341 yards and 5 touchdowns.

What's Next? The Dons travel to play Washington-Fremont on Sept. 17 at 7 p.m.

Bottom line: The Dons made some solid strides on offense, but they made too many mistakes to keep pace with the high-scoring Minutemen, who scored 40 points last week in a loss to Whitney High.

-----------------

Amador Valley High had the momentum and the lead over Concord with 10:53 left to play in the third quarter.

Carson Ewanich had just returned a punt 64 yards to the Concord seven, and running back A.J. Tyson had done the rest, bolting into the end zone on first down for a touchdown, putting the Dons ahead 16-14.

The extra-point was no good, but the Dons still held a two-point edge over the explosive Minutemen and quarterback Ricky Lloyd, a Division I talent who has committed to Southern Mississippi.

 "I thought we had it," Ewanich said. "We had the momentum with us.  We just made mental mistakes. That killed us."

Concord took advantage of almost every Amador Valley mistake and turned a two-point deficit into a 36-23 victory.

The Dons' momentum officially died when Concord's Cody Chapple blocked a punt in Amador Valley territory, and James Morales picked it up and rumbled to the 14. On first down, Lloyd hit Kelly Starnes for a touchdown, putting the Minutemen ahead 20-16 with 3:30 left in the third.

The Dons went three-and-out, and Concord drove for another score, Lloyd connecting with running back Alec Pica on a 14-yard touchdown with 11:19 left to play. Lloyd hit Starnes for the two-point conversion, making it 28-16. Lloyd's four-yard strike and two-point pass – both to Starnes – made it 36-16 with 5:30 left.

"They blocked the punt, but the next time we got the ball back we did nothing," said Amador Valley coach Rick Sira, whose team fell to 1-1 after a season-opening 7-0 win over Freedom. "That was a big turning point because we certainly had the momentum to be able to compete with them. We made some mistakes and they took advantage of them."

After scoring just seven points in their opener, the Dons made some strides on offense. Tyson rushed for 91 yards and two touchdowns. Sophomore quarterback Kyle Moreno hit Ewanich on a 22-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter, one play after hitting Devin Windell over the middle for 45 yards. In the first quarter, he hit Casey Cummings on a slant good for 43 yards, setting up a touchdown.

"We're making strides, and we're still not satisfied," Sira said. "I'm proud of our kids. They're not satisfied, and they'll continue to get better."

"Yeah, we're slowly getting it," Ewanich said. "Just holding calls and everything, bringing the balls back. But we have it going forward."

The Dons averaged 34.1 points per game last year during an 8-3 season when they went 5-2 in the EBAL, but they lost their leading passer, Kean Stancil, leading rusher, Dalton Turay, and leading receiver, Tyler Christensen. Sira, though, thinks this year's team has the potential to one day score 40 points in a game like Friday's night.

Sira has yet to choose a No. 1 quarterback, as Moreno and senior Patrick Gibbons continued to share playing time. Moreno threw for 147 yards with four long strikes.

Is Sira closer to making a decision?

"I don't' know," Sira said. "I thought they both did some good things tonight. I've got to take a look at the film and see what's going on there and go from there."

Facing Lloyd certainly helped prepare Amador Valley for almost any other quarterback or any other passing  attack they'll see this year.

He completed 41 of 54 passes for 341 yards and five touchdowns, working out of a four-receiver, shotgun set from start to finish. Wide receiver Kelly Starnes caught 14 passes for 98 yards and three scores.

"He was a great thrower," said Ewanich, who plays safety on defense. "He could pick apart the defense. He was good. He picked the holes and scored touchdowns on us."

—————————

Concord 36, Amador Valley 23

Amador  7   3   6   7 -- 23

Concord 6   8   6  16 -- 36

Scoring Summary:

7:31, 1st: C – Young 9 pass from Lloyd (two-point try failed)

1:27, 1st: A – Tyson 7 run (Osterholt kick)

8:04, 2nd: C – Safety, Tyson tackled in end zone

1:52, 2nd: A – Osterholt 41 FG

0:24, 2nd: C – Starnes 14 pass from Lloyd (two-point try failed)

10:53, 3rd: A – Tyson 7 run (Kick failed)

3:30, 3rd: C – Starnes  14 pass from Lloyd (two-point try failed)

11:19, 4th: C – Pica 14 pass from Lloyd (Starnes pass from Lloyd)

5:30, 4th: C – Starnes 5 pass from Lloyd (Starnes pass from Lloyd)

4:53, 4th: A – Ewanich 22 pass from Moreno (Osterholt kick)

Individual Statistics

Rushing (car-yards): A – Tyson 11-91, Isabel 4-43, Ashtiani 3-5, Ewanich 1-4, Osterholt 3-(-13), Gibbons 4-(-28), Moreno 4- (-31); C – Pica 15-73, Jones 1-2, Lloyd 10- (-7)

Passing (comp-att-yards-ints): A – Moreno 7-18-147-0; Gibbons 2-3-8-1; C – Lloyd 41-54-341-1

Receiving (rec-yds): A – Ewanich 3-22, Windell 2-70, Isabel 2-9, Cummings 1-43,  Osterholt 1-(-4); C – Starnes 14-98, Pica 9-72, Young 6-91, McCrary 6-47, Malupo 3-20, Pham 2-7, Jones 2-4.

Team offense (rush-pass-total)

Amador – 71-159-230

Concord – 68—341--409

—————————

Follow Patch Sports East Bay on Twitter

—————————

More Patch East Bay Football Coverage — Week 1

Friday, Sept. 10

San Ramon Valley 16, Mitty-San Jose 13. By Kyle Bonagura

Campolindo 35, Mt. Eden 14. By Kyle Yamamoto

Encinal 59, El Cerrito 20. By Jordan Conn

Marin Catholic 20, Las Lomas 8. By Richard Paolinelli

Serra-San Mateo 28, Monte Vista 21. By Jim Mannion

Dougherty Valley 31, Kennedy-Fremont 13. By Bill Soliday

Foothill 37, Novato 12. By Steve R. Waterhouse

Cal 45, College Park 3. By Adam Berke

Berean Christian 45, St. Helena 7. By Peter Fournier

Northgate 70, Tennyson 18. By Jim Mannion

Vallejo 42, Albany 24. By Patrick Creaven