Prep Impressions: Sept. 24, 2021
RIVERSIDE – The Corona-Riverside Ramona varsity football game on Friday, Sept. 24, 2021, was an example of the swinging pendulum of Week 5.
For Corona, the opportunity to go 4-0 on the season was there. The Panthers, led by QB Delaney Crawford twice led by two touchdowns, but just as soon as they’d get to a 14-point margin – twice – they could not stop Ramona from returning the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown. We’re not sure if we’ve ever seen anything like it before, but head coach Ron Gueringer was definitely nonplussed after the game.
Corona head coach Ron Gueringer: “Give (Ramona) credit – they made plays but I thought we gave it away. We were up twice by two touchdowns and it is what it is. I thought we were a better football team but that’s not the quotable part. The quotable part is that ‘Yeah, we gave away a football game but let’s give them credit as well. They did a great job.’ We just didn’t didn’t play good football. We had drives but then didn’t play football, didn’t trust ourselves. We played a real good football team. Let’s not take that way from them. They’re a real good football team, and comparable to some of the guys in our league. Of course not Centennial or Norco, but very comparable to everybody else so we’ve got a shot. Maybe there’s a lesson learned tonight. You go up by 14 twice and you chance of winning and you don’t put it away, and that’s what we just talked about. We have our foot on their throat and we didn’t finish it.”
For Riverside Ramona, it’s a good thing the 5-0 Rams have a game-changer in Beau Bruins (pictured). The kid just makes plays. And new QB Nathan Johnson showed glimpses of advancement in his game that has many in the Rams camp believing this could be a very good year. The defense tightened in the second half but still allowed Corona’s QB to run for nearly 200 yards – not ideal entering league play.
Riverside Ramona head coach Ken Mushinskie: “This is huge. Corona is a very talented team. They were much faster than we anticipated. We knew that we were going to have to stop No. 1 (Delaney Crawford), and he made a lot of great plays. Fortunately, our kids never gave up. We went into the locker room and made a couple of adjustments. Defense came up huge in the second half and the offense made plays when it needed to and we ended up with a good win. All week we worked on keeping contain, keeping contain, because we knew of his scrambling ability. It’s very hard to replicate that in practice, and he hurt us several times, but a couple times our defense played assignment football and kept contain and we pursued very well to the ball and made plays. Huge credit to the defense. They really come out and played a great second half. Offense ended up putting up some points. We try to keep focused. We talk a lot about the highs-and-lows of the game. This is the first time we’ve really been tested, and the kids really responded. I’m super proud of that. We didn’t really know how they were going to fight back but they did going into league. Right now a win over any team is big for us, but yes, over Corona, a Big VIII League team, it is fantastic. We’re super excited.”
Corona – 7 – 14 – 14 – 0 — 35
Ramona – 7 – 14 – 7 – 14 — 42
First quarter
C – Bruins 1 run (#35 kick), 8:30
R – Crawford 22 run (#47 kick), 2:44
Second quarter
C – Crawford 17 run (#47 kick), 5:31
C – Bacon 63 run (#47 kick), 2:54
R – Bruins 95 kickoff return (#35 kick), 2:49
R – Bruins 1 run (#35 kick), 0:39
Third quarter
C – Butler 1 run (run failed), 5:48
C – Lawrence 48 int. return (Butler pass from Crawford), 4:08
R – Shinar 80 kickoff return (kick blocked), 3:52
Fourth quarter
R – Bruins 9 run (Bruins run), 8:23
R – Valenzuela 24 pass from Johnson (#35 kick), 1:21
Team statistics
Total plays – Corona 65; Ramona 62.
First downs – Corona 15; Ramona 15.
Penalties – Corona 3-15; Ramona 7-57.
Turnovers – Corona 1; Ramona 2.
Individual statistics
Rushing – Corona: Crawford 25-192, Bacon 7-88, Butler 15-52, #9 1-(minus-7); Ramona: Bruins 25-143, Johnson 5-15, Villareal 1-0, Daniels 1-(minus-12).
Passing – Corona: Crawford 6-16-1-28; Ramona: Johnson 16-27-2-194.
Receiving – Corona: Butler 2-15, Carr 1-14, Bacon 3-(minus-1); Ramona: Valenzuela 6-95, Daniels 4-48, Shinar 1-28, Villa 3-21, Villarreal 1-5, Bruins 1-(minus-2).
Interceptions – Corona: Lawrence 1-48, Bacon 1-0; Ramona: Martinez 1-4.
PHOTO by JERRY SOIFER / For InlandFieldhouse.com
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