North Bay League All-Stars Knock Off Sonoma County League in Close Game Saturday Night

The 38th Santa Rosa Kiwanis Club All-Star Football game ended with a late touchdown Saturday, giving the North Bay League the edge over the Sonoma County League 31-28.

Thirteen players representing , , and played for the Sonoma County League (SCL) at Santa Rosa High School, led by Casa's Makana Garrigan who pulled in a pair of touchdown catches.

The North Bay League (NBL), made up of Maria Carrillo in Santa Rosa, Rancho Cotate in Rohnert Park and other schools, opened the game and quickly marched down the field. Maria Carrillo's Sam Atoe took a screen pass 55 yards and the drive was capped with Rancho Cotate's Pou Peleti-Gore hitting fellow Cougar, Sean Fish for a 26-yard pitch and catch for the first score.

The SCL answered later in the first quarter when El Molino's Mike Pierson found his high school teammate Joe Douglass for an 11-yard touchdown pass. Michael Mieswinkel, out of St. Vincent, helped setup the touch down with a 24-yard reception earlier in the drive.  

After a turnover on downs deep in their own territory by the SCL, the NBL capitalized. Runs of 24 yards and 5 yards by Sam Atoe finished a scoring drive to put the NBL up 14-7. Just before halftime, Carson Seanor punched in from just outside the goal line on fourth down to re-tie the score at 14 heading into the locker room.

On their first possession of the third quarter, Sam Atoe was at it again, two big runs of 18 yards and 31 yards got him his second touchdown and put the NBL back on top 21-14.

The Casa Grande boys got it going on the following possession for the SCL to knot the score back up. Quarterback Nick Sherry hit former Gaucho Anthony Poole for 31 yards, and then passed to Makana Garrigan for 24 more. Sherry later found Garrigan again in the end zone for a 5-yard score.

"It felt like we were back on the Casa Grande football field," Garrigan said, who will be playing football at the University Nevada-Reno in the fall. "I was talking with (Sherry) on the sideline and I said I feel like we haven't skipped a beat."

Holding the NBL to a field goal, the SCL had a chance to take their first lead toward the end of the third quarter. With Pierson back in the game, him and Garrigan hooked up for a 23-yard touch down strike setup by a 36-yard grab by Kyle Smith of Windsor. SCL took the advantage 28-24. 

"We really came together in the second half," said Garrigan. "We were kind of awkward in the beginning, in the second half, we were like alright we got this."  

Both offenses sputtered a bit at the end of the game with each team trading a pair of punts. Sam Atoe ended his big night with 43 more yards on the ground and eventually scored on a ten yard toss play to put the NBL back on top for good with just under two minutes to go. 

One last chance for the SCL as Sherry connected with Poole a couple of times on the last possession. However, Sherry's pass to Garrigan on fourth down was incomplete, sealing Sonoma County's fate.

"It was fun, being on the same team with guys you're usually throwing against was kind of weird at first, but we've got good relationships out here," said Sherry, who will continue his football career at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas. "The best players from all the teams were playing, so we had a good group of talent. I was excited to play in it."