Gallery • 14 Photos

Graham Weir

Redwood's senior captains Ashlin Quach and Sean Cunneen accompany juniors Ben Vaughn and Dante Davis for the coin toss.

From the first quarter, it was evident that the Redwood Giants and San Leandro Pirates had rust that needed to be knocked off. The Giants fumbled twice, threw an interception and were plagued on defense by a litany of pass-interference, facemask and celebration penalties. On the other side, the Pirates fumbled four times, recovered twice by the Giants for turnovers.
Outside of the penalty woes, the Giants defense was stellar. Facing a San Leandro offense composed of heavy packages and consistent running, Redwood’s front seven faced a tough task, but they could not have responded better. Senior Erik Johnson made a home in the backfield, racking up two sacks and two tackles for a loss. When Johnson wasn’t tackling Pirates in the backfield, the Giants’ outstanding core of linebackers was there to clean it up; Senior Miles Harrison had seven tackles, two for a loss, while also forcing and scooping up a fumble to deny San Leandro in the red zone. The junior linebackers stood their ground despite infrequent varsity experience; Ben Vaughn had seven tackles, three of them for a loss; Cooper Canon had five tackles and a fumble recovery; Ben Harp had six tackles and a sack.
“We still have some things to work on, but it was great to have all the young guys on defense step up. We knew we had to stop the run today, and besides one breakaway, we did that,” Vaughn said.
Despite a long scoring drought in the middle, Redwood’s offense bookended the game with dominance. Senior quarterback Kody Vasquez came out firing on the first drive, completing all five of his passes for 59 yards, culminating in a 22-yard touchdown to senior Ronan Ralston.
Senior Sean Cunneen and junior Dylan McGrath did it all for the Giants on their third drive; McGrath caught an eight-yard screen pass and Cunneen racked up consecutive first downs, one on the ground and one in the air; McGrath then caught a first down, setting the Giants up nicely before making the play of the day. Vasquez evaded pressure from Pirate defenders, rolling left and throwing across his body to McGrath, who dragged his toes in the corner of the end zone.
With three turnovers in the second and third quarters, the Giants’ offense stalled out, giving San Leandro an opportunity to make the game close. Vaughn cites a lack of discipline and believes they need to reduce penalties.
“We have to stay more disciplined as a team. We gave them way too many chances to stay in the ballgame by not taking care of the ball and having bad penalties,” Vaughn said.
The Pirates eventually made them pay, converting on fourth down after a pass-interference penalty extended the drive. A few minutes later, San Leandro got the ball again and marched down the field to tie the game 14-14. Deep into the fourth quarter, the game was tied after it previously looked like Redwood had secured the victory.
But the Giants responded immediately with a drive of their own, kicked off by a 20-yard strike over the middle to senior Ashlin Quach. On the next play, Cunneen took the game into his own hands, spinning past a defender and getting to the edge, taking it to the house from 50 yards out. The Giants’ defense bore down to end the fourth quarter with a huge sack and tackle for a loss by Johnson on back-to-back plays. They would go on to win 21-14.
Vasquez was highly efficient, ending the day by completing 23 out of 27 passes for 212 yards and two touchdown passes. Cunneen led the ground game with 97 yards, a touchdown, five catches and 60 receiving yards. The Giants travel to Rancho Cotate next Friday at 7 p.m.