Cajon football team starts fast, beats Norco in season opener – San Bernardino Sun
SAN BERNARDINO – The Cajon football team quickly overtook Norco and never let the Cougars down, winning 29-7 in both teams’ season opener on Friday night.
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Cajon scored twice in the first 53 seconds to take a 14-0 lead.
Brandon Rivers got the party started for Cajon with a 78-yard touchdown run on Cajon’s first play.
Noah De La Torre then recovered an onside kick for Cajon, setting up Evan Powell’s 6-yard touchdown pass to Bjorn Birmingham.
Norco’s hopes flickered when quarterback Joseph Stoffel led the Cougars on a 72-yard run. Running back Trevor Schneider capped the march with a 5-yard touchdown run to make it 14-7 with 6:09 left in the first quarter.
But Cajon was not deterred. The team got going early in the second quarter and finally scored another touchdown with a 6-yard touchdown run by Powell to make it 22-7. A key play was Powell’s 33-yard pass to Jered Rennick.
The early onside kick was just one of the costly plays for Norco. Late in the third quarter, the Cougars botched a punt and Cajon intercepted it. The Cowboys scored six plays later on a 6-yard pass from quarterback Jordan Salazar to Hector Garcia, one of two transfer receivers from Beaumont.
“How many little details made the difference in this game?” asked Norco coach Dan Barlage. “They’re a very good team and the way they started the game scared me. They’re super athletic and can explode at any time. Against teams like that, you have to be disciplined and detail-oriented.”
Trailing 29-7 with just 9:34 left in the game, things looked bleak for Norco. The problems continued on fourth and third down at the Cajon 4 when a snap went awry, resulting in a 16-yard loss and a turnover on downs.
Rivers was a standout for Cajon, rushing for 155 yards on 20 carries, including some snaps from the Wildcat formation after Powell went down with a knee injury. Cajon coach Nick Rogers said Powell was out for the rest of the game as a precautionary measure.
“Rivers is a stud,” Rogers said. “He’s been playing for us for four years and has done a great job. He’s our captain – he’s everything you could want in a kid.”
Rivers showed his versatility after Powell was injured.
“You have to adapt,” Rivers said. “The quarterback went down, so I had to go in there and show them I’m not just a running back.”
Regarding Rivers’ long touchdown run earlier in the game, he said, “I felt like I was leaving. I’m out of there. I couldn’t hear anything. It’s silence. I just hear my footsteps.”
Powell threw 49 yards before being eliminated.
The Cowboys’ offensive line with Isaac Adams, Sean Saavedra, Andrew Hernandez, Hector Saavedra and Cornelio Arevalo was dominant. Gabriel Kittelson also came in as a substitute and the Cowboys didn’t let it bother them.
Manuel Garcia supported the Cowboys defense with an interception.
Stoffel threw for 76 yards for Norco and Schneider managed 77 yards on 19 carries.
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