COLUSA, CA (MPG) – In 1990, the Colusa football team won its first section title with a 12-7 victory over Winters, but now, 33 years later, the current crop of RedHawks had far less trouble having shellacked the visiting Warriors 42-13 to claim the school’s third overall and second straight Northern Section CIF Division IV championship.
It was the second time in 17 days that the two Sacramento Valley League foes squared off against each other, but unlike their first meeting on Nov. 3, which ended in a narrow three-point win for Colusa, there was little to doubt Nov. 22, given that the No. 2 seeded Warriors stopped the RedHawk offense once all night.
And while most incorrectly predicted the game would be a close one, head coach Mikey Badaluco was not at all surprised by the outcome given his team’s focus in its preparation.
“Even though it was a short week, our kids were completely locked in,” Badaluco said. “We had a ton of meetings and there was a lot of mental preparation, and obviously we brought that to the field tonight.”
It was apparent early on that No.1 seeded Colusa was up for the challenge, because after stopping the Warriors on the first possession of the game, the RedHawks needed just three plays to put points on the board.
Following two straight runs and facing a third and five at their own 40, Colusa saw quarterback Bo Coronado hit Landon Humphrey on a short out route, where the receiver spun away from the defender and raced 60 yards for the
touchdown with six minutes remaining in the opening quarter.
It was the first of the senior’s five catches on a night, where he finished with 158 yards, and stood out on third down situations by making plays that allowed the offense to keep the chains moving.
After the game, Humphrey, who was also a perfect 6 for 6 kicking extra points, passed his efforts off as routine and credited Coronado with making it easy.
“I don’t let my nerves get to me,” Humphrey said. “We’ve practiced it all year, so whether it’s first down or third down, I don’t change my mindset. But Bo is an amazing quarterback. He always puts the ball where it needs to go,
so I’m just the one that catches it.”
Yet, the initial lead did not last long as the Warriors mounted a successful response, marching 80 yards in 11 plays and scoring on a 15-yard pass from quarterback Colton Brown to Sebastian Valadez, who was wide open in the end
zone.
Following the touchdown, and in the early minutes of the second quarter, the Winters defense made what was ultimately its only stop of the night to force a RedHawks’ punt.
But the momentum was about to change in Colusa’s favor for good, when, after Nicko Mata batted away a second down pass, Aiden Selover came away with an interception on the next play that proved to be a dagger in the Warriors’ heart with 10:25 remaining in the second quarter.
For his part, Selover pointed to the coaching staff for preparing him to make a big play, saying, “I want to thank my coaches for working with me all week on my cover three technique. I was just very excited to be in a position to do
that. It was the perfect moment for me to get the job done.”
It was a game changer because, as a result, the RedHawks embarked on a three-minute drive and regained the lead 14-7 after Adan Travis bulled his way into the end zone from a yard out.
However, the offensive onslaught had just begun, given that Colusa would score an additional four unanswered touchdowns.
Two of those scores came in the second period, the first when Coronado hit Charlie Santana in stride on a 41-yard strike, which was followed by a one-yard run by Selover just before the half to extend the advantage to 28-7.
With the RedHawks set to receive the second half kickoff, Winters resorted to a bit of trickery and successfully executed an onside kick to take possession at the 50, but, once again, could make no headway against the Colusa
defense, which stood its ground and stopped the Warriors on fourth down.
On the RedHawks’ ensuing drive, aided by a 15-yard third down completion to Isaiah Travis and three Winters’ penalties, Colusa added to its total, on another short burst by Adan Travis into the endzone.
A fumble recovery by Abimael Fuerte at the end of third quarter led to Colusa’s final touchdown as the RedHawks put together a 16-play drive that took 10 minutes off the clock and ended with Adan Travis running it in for the
score.
In addition to his hat trick, Travis finished the night as Colusa’s leading rusher, carrying 14 times for 47 yards.
However, while the run game netted 128 yards, the passing attack was nearly unstoppable with Coronado completing 11 of his 13 attempts for 262 yards, a 164.3 quarterback rating, in addition to drawing Winters offside no
less than five times.
And although the Warriors put a last second touchdown on the board as the final horn sounded, the RedHawk defense deserves immense credit for its performance, stifling a Winters offense that has averaged 406.8 yards and
33.6 points per game this season.
While Colusa drew on the toughness of Mata, Will McCoy and Hayden Sines, among others, for the second week in a row, Badaluco singled out the play of fellow senior Parker Goodman, saying, “Parker owned his side of the line at
defensive end. It’s a new position for him and he played it beautifully.”
Overall, however, the dominance the RedHawks exhibited was a credit to the entire squad, something Selover summed up in the aftermath of the victory.
“I’m very proud of these guys, because it was a total team effort,” said the senior. “Nobody did it by themselves and we worked very hard to be here.”
Now 12-0, the 2023 RedHawks join their 1937 and 1990 counterparts as the only Colusa football teams to remain unbeaten through an entire regular season.
Yet, this year, the win does not mark the end for the RedHawks, who make a return appearance to a CIF Regional Bowl game on Saturday when they head to South San Francisco to take on the 12-1 Warriors at 6 pm.