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Football: Pinole Blasts Alameda; ACCAL Title In Sight

James Lewis ran for 239 yards in the win.

Trevor Murphy, Neighbor

Posted Wed, Oct 20, 2010 at 3:21 am PT|Updated Wed, Oct 20, 2010 at 4:14 am PT

Pinole Valley 41, Alameda 13

The Star: James Lewis rushed for 239 yards on 12 carries for the Spartans.

The Turning Point: Pinole's Travis Feeney picked up a fumble on a backwards pass from Alameda quarterback John Ruck and ran it into the endzone for a 31-yard touchdown in the third quarter to put the game out of reach.

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The Quote: "Man, they're really good," said Ruck on an undefeated Pinole Valley squad.

What's next? Pinole travels to Hercules on Friday for a 7 p.m. game.

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Bottom Line: Pinole Valley was just too fast and too strong for Alameda to matchup with for 48 minutes.

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For the Pinole Valley High football team, Friday's game with Alameda served as another stepping stone towards the Alameda Contra Costa Athletic League title as the Spartans blasted the Hornets 41-13.

It wasn't unexpected.

The Spartans' 16-14 win against Berkeley on Oct. 1 figured to be their toughest game in ACCAL play and they should be expected to cruise to wins in their final three games of the season.

James Lewis ran for 239 yards in the win.

Alameda coach Steve Rochlin believes that the best is still yet to come for his Hornets football program. He has already lost his star running back Michael Cunningham for the season to a leg injury, and his team was blown away on Friday night to a bigger, faster Pinole Valley team.

But again, Rocklin believes there is light at the end of the tunnel.

"There is no reason why we can't finish 3-0 these last three games," Rochlin said as he addressed his team in the postgame huddle. "We'll have the chance to do what we are supposed to do, and that's win football games."

From the opening kick, it looked like Alameda was going to hang around with the undefeated Spartans.

After an onside kick was recovered by the Hornets' Ryan Carlson, Alameda had visions of putting points on the board early, but a stalled drive in Pinole territory gave the Spartans just the pick-me-up it needed.

A five-play, 60-yard drive took all of three minutes, capped off by a Carvonte Hill touchdown run from 21 yards out to put Pinole ahead 7-0, and it never looked back.

"Pinole did what they needed to do tonight," Alameda quarterback John Ruck said. "Man, they're really good."

Alameda got on the scoreboard just before halftime. A botched punt attempt allowed punter Ryan Carlson to find a hole around the end and rumble 30 yards to keep the drive alive. Ruck found the end zone moments later on a three-yard touchdown run to make it a 27-7 halftime lead for Pinole.

"All night we were driving down field, we were just missing those plays to get us over the top," Ruck said. "We have a lot to work on. We need to work on our blocking assignments, guys catching passes, and myself making plays for us to win."

In the end, the Alameda defense had no answers for a mightier Spartans rushing attack. James Lewis rushed for 224 yards by halftime and finished with 239 yards on the ground and a touchdown. Andre Tyson also found the end zone twice, rushing for 51 yards on six carries.

The telling stat of the night was that Pinole Valley only threw the ball twice, both for incomplete passes, and both coming on hail mary passes just before halftime.

"We have to get better," Rochlin said. "A lot of guys played hard tonight."

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Pinole Valley 41, Alameda 13

Alameda 0  7 0 6— 13
Pinole    14  13  14  0 — 41

Scoring summary
7:12, 1st:  PV- Hill 21 run (Naterman kick)

2:53, 1st: PV- Lewis 75 run (Naterman kick)

10:25, 2nd: PV- Tyson 19 run (kick failed)

4:10, 2nd: PV- Hill 9 run (Naterman kick)

0:43, 2nd: A- Ruck 3 run (Johnson kick)

6:59, 3rd: PV- Tyson 2 run (Naterman kick)

5:04, 3rd: PV- Feeney 31 fumble return (Naterman kick)

4:57, 4th: A- Ruck 1 run (kick failed)

Individual Statistics

Rushing (car-yards): A —Cullin 17-95, Carlson 1-30, Awa 5-16, Uyeno 5-13, Ruck 14-9, Ruckman 1-4, PV- Lewis 12-239, Hill 10-92, Yee 10-55, Tyson 6-51, Bulls 1-(-1), Campbell 1-(-15)

Passing (comp-att-yards-ints): A— Ruck 7-20-84-0, PV- Holley 0-2-0-0

Receiving (rec-yards): A— Carlson 3-46, Alfers 3-27, Hasseeb 1-11, PV- none

Team offense (rush-pass-total)

Alameda— 167-84-257

Pinole Valley — 421-0-421

Fumbles/lost: A— 1/1; PV — 1/0.

Records: Alameda 2-5, Pinole Valley 6-0-1

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