By Mike Finnerty
mike.finnerty@surewestsports.com
Friday night in Loomis, the Del Oro Golden Eagles and the Placer Hillmen met up in round two of the Division III playoffs in what is billed as one of the oldest rivalries in the region.
Down 9-0 after the first, and 12-7 at the half, the Golden Eagles woke up in the second half and outscored the Hillmen 34-0 to prevail 41-12
A pair of Del Oro fumbles and an interception in the end zone, combined with a safety on a wayward snap into the end zone, were just some of the first half miscues that had Del Oro off their normally dominant game.
Also making things tough on the Del Oro offense in the first half was the play of the Placer defense led by junior defensive lineman Eddie Vanderdoes.
Quarterback Peter Denham put the Hillmen on the board first with a 12-yard run that was followed by the safety for a 9-0 Placer lead heading to the second.
Nick O’Sullivan broke the scoring drought for Del Oro with a 1-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, cutting the Placer lead to 9-7.
A 34-yard field goal by Dominic Granieri just seconds before the end of the half put Placer up 12-7 at intermission.
The second half was all Del Oro.
A long opening drive to start the second half was capped off with a 1-yard score by O’Sullivan, giving Del Oro its first lead of the game at 13-12.
After that, Del Oro found pay dirt on touchdown runs of 80 and 10 yards from Brandon Monroe, plus a Blake Covey 93-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown, and then an O’Sullivan 22-yard touchdown run, and what appeared to be a possible upset in the first half was anything but.
The dynamic backfield duo of Monroe (18 carries, 122 yards) and Sullivan (21 carries, 100 yards) once again combined for over 200 yards on the ground, while on the defensive side of the ball it was a big night for Covey who had a pair of interceptions to go with the fumble recovery for a touchdown.
With the win, Del Oro advances to Friday’s semi-final round where the Eagles will be back on the home turf when they take on the Whitney Wildcats.
NOTE: Whitney will be without star quarterback and University of Oregon commit, Jake Rodrigues, who broke his leg in Whitney’s playoff win over Cosumnes Oaks.