One quarter into Friday night’s Healdsburg football game against Lower Lake, the word in the press box was that the two teams – then tied, 6-6 – were pretty evenly matched. “It’ll take a mistake or a lucky break for somebody to win,” said a long-time Boosters member.
But then the breaks started happening, and they didn’t go in Healdsburg’s direction. A fumble turned to ball over to the Trojans, who marched downfield to score for a second time and capped it with a two-point conversion.
Still in the first half, Lower Lake’s quarterback Aston Hartmann and running back Anthony Russell again hooked up for another score, and another two-point conversion. Lower Lake, which had defeated Esparto 22-7 a week earlier, held a similar 22-6 lead at the half.
The half-time shows by cheer squads from both schools helped improve the mood of the Healdsburg bleachers, but as the third quarter progressed the Lower Lake lead increased to 30-6 on another TD and another two-point conversion.
The bad breaks continued for the Greyhounds. First sophomore center Damon Smith left the game with an injury, followed by his replacement at center, Isiah Robles – a senior, and an All-League player last year. Faced with a depleted offensive line and nothing but freshmen on the bench to replace them, coach Taylor Tappin elected to stop play and forfeit the game.
“The really tough part is the kids want to play,” said the coach at Monday’s practice session at HHS. “But I can’t risk our guys like that – two of the four offensive linemen we had were freshmen, they should not be on the varsity field.”
He added, “I never had to do anything like that, it was a tough situation – but it was the only call.” Then on Monday he announced that this coming Friday’s game “would not be happening.”
The double forfeit evoked memories of Healdsburg’s ill-starred 2018 season. After losing their first two games by a combined score of 102-0, the players themselves voted to forfeit the rest of the season. Although they haven’t had a winning season since 2013, the Greyhounds have continued to field a varsity football team every year, running through a series of one-year coaches leading up to Tappin’s leadership this year.
But, as the coach said, the kids want to play. There was no slacking off at Monday’s practice – the receiver’s routes were tight and quarterback’s passes were sharp, and it’s easy to foresee some good football games ahead.
While returning seniors Hayden Mariani and Max Morris have both scored this season, as has Dillan Jocius, it’s Frank Rea Jr.’s team on the field. The junior has cleanly graduated into the quarterback slot with a series of high-performance games already this year.
Last week, despite the loss, Rea was again a standout. He completed 11 of 15 pass attempts for 103 yards, and carried the ball 10 times for another 64 and the school’s lone touchdown. Meanwhile, Mariani caught six passes for 60 yards, and Morris four for 39.
Local fans won’t be able to watch the team this Friday, as the Santa Rosa game has already been forfeited. The Greyhounds (0-3) will next play on Sept. 19 in Willits.
Next home game for Healdsburg will be at Rec Park on Oct. 3 against Novato, following the league’s scheduled opener on Sept. 26 in San Rafael.
