Football: Northgate Uses Big Plays to Beat Dougherty Valley

Northgate 39, Dougherty Valley 14

The Star: Lucas Raventos ran for 51 yards on 15 carries and scored the Wildcats first touchdown of the game.

The Turning Point: Northgate's Matt Butler ran 78 yards for a touchdown on the Broncos' first offensive play to jump-start a runaway victory.

The Quote: "We made a lot of mistakes, but I'm stil proud of the effort." — Dougherty Valley coach Bob Spain.

What's Next? The Wildcats host Livermore, which beat Dublin 40-21 on Friday, on Sept. 24 at 7 p.m. Northgate will travel to rival Las Lomas for the Battle of the Creek.

Bottom Line: Dougherty Valley simply didn't matchup athlete-for-athlete with the Broncos, but the game should be good preparation for when the Wildcats play Acalanes, which also runs the double-tight, double-wing offense.

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It took one play for Northgate High's Matt Butler to set the tone for a night dominated by big plays in the Broncos' 39-14 win on the road against previously undefeated Dougherty Valley.

Butler took a pitch on Northgate's first offensive play and once he found some space, he was gone. The 78-yard touchdown was the first of four touchdowns of over 50 yards the Broncos would eventually score and it left the Wildcats shell-shocked.

"(Butler) is a very good player," Dougherty Valley coach Bob Spain said. "And he's really good in that system."

"That system" being Northgate's double-tight, double-wing offense.

The Wildcats had no answer for it, Butler or Northgate running back Cameron Stover.

"We played with a lot of emotion today," Butler said. "We were hearing from people that we were going to lose and it motivated us."

The motivation was probably unneeded for Northgate, which controlled the line of scrimmage — especially on defense — against a Dougherty Valley teams that prides itself on physicality. 

Northgate's offensive line made life easy for Butler (six carries, 177 yards) and Stover (16 carries, 184 yards), who combined for 361 of the Broncos' 423 rushing yards.

"Both those guys are doing a great job," Northgate coach Justin Lowell said. "And we're trying to get some younger guys, like Blair Schmidt, involved as well."

After Butler's opening run, the game's next three possessions ended with punts. When Northgate (3-0) took over again at its own 35-yard line, it took just four plays to find the end zone. Stover scored on a 38-yard run to put Northgate up 14-0 near the end of the first quarter.

Dougherty picked up three first downs on the ensuing drive, but was forced to punt after crossing into Northgate territory.  

Two plays later, Butler scored on an 82-yard run and the route was on.

The Wildcats showed promise on their next drive, but Jon Jon Ioane stepped in front of a Tyler Eastman pass and returned it 57 yards for a Northgate touchdown.

"We can't turn the ball over like that," Spain said. "We we're almost in field goal range and it cost us a chance to put points on the board."

Dougherty (2-1) couldn't have hoped for a better start to the second half. The Wildcats recovered a Northgate fumble and turned it into their first points of the game. Lucas Raventos scored from three yards out and Northgate's lead was cut to 27-7.

There was never a point where the game's outcome was in doubt, but the Wildcats showed no quit. A 24-yard halfback pass from Michael Spivey to Taylor Carter cut the lead to 27-14 late in the third quarter, but this time Northgate had an answer.

After picking up on five yards on the final play of the third quater, Stover busted up the middle, made his way to the outside and outraced the Dougherty defense for a 75-yard score.

Dougherty went three-and-out on its ensuing possession and the Broncos' came back with a 10-play, 61-yard touchdown drive, capped by a 14-yard scramble by quarterback Alex Cost to round out the scoring.

Northgate will now turn its attention to Friday's rivalry game at Las Lomas.

"Oh man, that's the game we're waiting for," Butler said. "We said if we had to go 1-9, we'd want that win to be against Las Lomas. There is going to be some hitting going on in that one."

Lowell likes what he's seen as the Broncos have turned in three-straight dominating performances, but sees room for improvement.

"I was really happy with how we played defensively against the run," Lowell said. "We have to limit the turnovers, but we'll learn from those mistakes."

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Northgate 39, Dougherty Valley 14

Northgate 14 13 0 12 — 39

Dougherty 0 0 14 0 — 14

Scoring Summary

8:22. 1st: N — Butler 78 run (kick blocked)

1:05, 1st: N — Stover 38 run (Stover run)

9:28, 2nd: N — Butler 82 run (Levy kick)

1:13, 2nd: N — Ioane 57 interception return (kick failed)

8:14, 3rd: DV — Raventos 3 run (Ward kick)

0:01, 3rd: DV — Carter 24 pass from Spivey (Ward kick)

11:48, 4th: N — Stover 75 run (kick failed)

3:29, 4th: N — Eastman 14 run (kick failed)

Individual Statistics

Rushing (car-yards): N — Stover 16-184, Butler 6-177, Schmidt 4-49, Stuart 5-6, Cost 4-6, Han 2-1. DV — Raventos 15-51, Walker 10-43, Spivey 9-42, Eastman 6-19, Snoddy 1-3.

Passing (comp-att-yards-int): N — Cost 1-4-8-1. DV — Eastman 10-18-77-1,Spivey 2-2-37-0.

Receiving (Rec-yards):  N — Butler 1-8. DV — Carter 4-52, Larkin 2-24, Pinkston 2-17, Spivey 2-13, Raventos 1-8, Walker 1-0.

Team Offense (rushing-passing-total)

Northgate 423 - 8 - 431

Dougherty Valley 158 - 114 - 272

Fumbles/lost: Northgate 4/3; Dougherty 5/2

Records: Northgate 3-0, Dougherty 2-1

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