Pintos opening drive déjà vu

KAISER - The opening possession for the California Pintos last Friday night had an eerie feeling of déjà vu. The Pintos marched down the field after receiving the opening kickoff against Blair Oaks and Osage in back-to-back weeks to take an 8-0 lead.

But instead of falling victim to 42 unanswered points like California did against Blair Oaks, the Pintos followed that touchdown drive with two more scoring drives to jump out to an early 22-0 lead against Osage.

California cruised for the rest of the game to defeat the Indians 41-21.

Against Blair Oaks two weeks ago, California made the first drive look easy. The Pintos gained three first downs and only had to face one third down. Quarterback Jacob Wolken completed a 42-yard pass on a third-and-4 play from the Falcons' 47-yard line to get down to the 2-yard line. Wolken punched it in on the next play to score, then a 2-point conversion gave the Pintos an 8-0 lead.

The Pintos' offense went on to gain only one first down until midway through the fourth quarter when California had its only other touchdown drive.

Last Friday night against Osage, and after its score on the opening possession, California earned 12 more first downs in the game, racking up 33 more points.

"Early, they were giving us five men in the box like Blair Oaks did last week on the first drive," Albertson said after his team's win against Osage. "We kept running it on them. When they tried to put guys in there, we threw on them. I thought our outside receivers did a good job of getting open. We moved the ball well on them throwing the ball, and in the second half, we really didn't have to throw, we tried to run the clock."