Del Norte Puts Up a Battle but RB Holds On, 35-30

Rancho Bernardo High School put visiting Del Norte in a two-touchdown hole early Friday night, but the Broncos had to scratch and claw to hold on for a 35-30 non-league victory.

An estimated 4,500 fans were treated to a wide-open and entertaining season debut for two teams breaking in brand-new coaches.

For the Division I Broncos, new head coach Tristan McCoy enjoyed a successful debut. Senior quarterback Trent Sessions led McCoy’s Broncos by tossing scoring passes of 35 yards to Rodney Alo, 10
yards to Dejuan Hardy, and 68 yards to Jake Arnell.

Rancho Bernardo also got touchdown runs from Ivy Adair and Michael Ralph. A.J. Bunn booted the conversions for all five Broncos TDs.

Despite the exciting offensive explosion, McCoy said he was less than satisfied with his team’s penalties and mental breakdowns.

“We made way too many mistakes,” McCoy said. “There were pregame jitters for the fist-time coaches and the kids. But winning is way better than the alternative."

For Division IV Del Norte, first-year head coach Leigh Cole is leading the Nighthawks in only their second varsity season. And even though Del Norte will graduate its first senior class in the spring, the
Nighthawks fielded just three seniors among their 22 starters.

“While we made a lot of mistakes,” Cole said, echoing Sessions in a familiar coaching mantra, “I am proud of the way we played. There was no quit in our kids.”

One star of the game for Del Norte was Patrick Zeller, who broke through three tacklers on the way to a 75-yard touchdown run. Zeller also caught a 29-yard scoring pass from QB Alex Dion for a second TD.

“Not bad for a sophomore,” Cole said with a grin.

Dion also connected with tight end Chad Wetzel and wide receiver Wayne Ganan for touchdowns in his varsity debut.

“Dion played well,” Cole said. “He is only a junior. He’s 6-foot-1, 185 pounds and a Division I (college) prospect.”

Dion and the Nighthawks got off to a rocky start on their first two possessions, however, turning the ball over on a fumble and interception deep in Del Norte territory. The Broncos capitalized with a 6-yard TD run by senior Ivy Adair and a 35-yard scoring pass by Sessions to Alo to take a 14-0 lead.

But from then on the Broncos had their hands full with the never-say-die Nighthawks.

Trailing 35-23 with less than 5 minutes to go in the fourth quarter, Del Norte put a scare in the Broncos.

Zeller improvised when a called play, a bubble screen, broke down and turned upfield to catch Dion’s toss over the defense for his 29-yard score.

Brett Mathis’ fourth conversion kick pulled Del Norte within 35-30 with 2:37 left in the game. The Nighthawks defense held and gave the ball back to the offense with 1:07 to go.

But the Broncos’ defense stiffened to make a real winner of McCoy.