Dixon High School's football season came to an end with a 28-7 loss at Calaveras Friday night in the opening round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV playoffs.

The Rams finished the year with a 4-7 record. They had won four of their previous five games to finish Second in the Golden Empire League after an 0-5 start.

Calaveras improved to 9-2. The Redskins will host the winner of tonight's game between Livingston and Vista del Lago in next week's quarterfinals.

 

Carlos Meraz was expecting the worst. And while a Sac-Joaquin Section playoff berth isn't a bad thing, Will C. Wood High School's head football coach knows the Wildcats' first postseason trip in 14 years won't be a picnic.

Meraz and Wood drew a tough assignment and then some when the section announced its playoff pairings on Saturday night. The Wildcats will travel to undefeated and nationally ranked Grant of Sacramento for Friday's Division II opener.

"We're happy to be in the playoffs, but this is what happens when you are a low seed," Meraz said. "Division II is by far the best bracket, and we'll just have to do the best we can."

While Wood (6-4) may have the most daunting first-round matchup, the pairings weren't very kind to any local team.

Vacaville was seeded No. 5 in Division despite a 9-1 record. If the Bulldogs beat No. 12 Antelope (6-4) at home in Friday's opener, they will probably have to hit the road to face powerful Folsom (9-1) in the second round.

Grant didn't even get the top seed in D-II, but instead drew No. 2 to Wood's No. 15. No. 1 Buhach Colony (10-0) faces Bethel of Vallejo (6-4), which finished second in the Solano County Athletic Conference.

St. Mary's of Stockton (9-1) is seeded third in D-II, followed by No. 4 Folsom, Vacaville, Inderkum of Natomas (9-1) and River City (9-1).

By contrast, Napa (9-1), which finished second to the Bulldogs in the final Monticello Empire League standings, is seeded second in Division I.

Teams were divided into brackets according to school population.

Vanden (6-4) drew the No. 16 and final seed in Division III, and must travel to No. 1 Manteca (9-1) for Friday's opener.

Dixon (4-6) earned the No. 8 and final seed in the top half of the Division IV bracket, and must make a long road trip to No. 1 Calaveras (8-2) on Friday.

 

Marcos Pangelinan had nine carries for 115 yards and two touchdown as the Dixon High School football team held off Capital Christian 24-21 Friday night.

Pangelinan had touchdowns runs of 26 and 46 yards in the first half. Paul McCarty added 64 yards rushing and a 4-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter.

Julio Reyes converted three point-after kicks and nailed a 42-yard field goal.

Pangelinan added an interception on defense and Anthony Salaber made 15 tackles.

Dixon finishes second in the Golden Empire League with a 4-1 record. The Rams are 4-6 overall and earned a playoff spot.

Dixon will find out where it will play tonight when Sac-Joaquin Section pairings are announced.

Dixon High School's football team rolled to a 47-0 win over West Campus in Sacramento Friday night.

Corey Hall had touchdown runs of 14, 15 and 16 yards in the first quarter as the Rams raced out to a 26-0 lead.

Dixon improved to 2-0 in the Golden Empire League and 2-5 overall.

Luka Alaupovic had a 19-yard touchdown pass to Luke Cunningham in the first quarter and a 73-yarder in the second quarter to Anthony Salaber. Nick Salaber rushed for a 12-yard score in the second half and Alaupovic dashed nine yards for another score.

Nick Salaber rushed 12 times for 108 yards. John Eldridge led the defense with 10 tackles.

Dixon won the junior varsity game 55-8.

Dixon High School's football team opened the Golden Empire League season in style Friday night, pulling away for its first win of the season in a 32-18 victory over visiting Lindhurst.

Paul McCarty and Marcos Pangelinan led a Rams rushing attack that totaled more than 400 yards as Dixon broke a five-game losing streak.

McCarty rushed for 164 yards on just 12 carries, including a 92-yard touchdown run. Pangelinan carried 13 times for 161 yards, including TDs of 81 and 18 yards.

Korey Hall added a 20-yard TD run for Dixon, and Anthony Salaber scored on a 6-yard run.

Dixon won the junior varsity game 42-0.
 

Vanden High School receiver David Bucannon catches a pass behind the coverage of Dixon's A.J. Bell during the third quarter of the Vikings' season-opening victory at home on Thursday night. (Joel Rosenbaum / The Reporter)

The same could be said for the entire Vanden High School football team in Thursday night's season opener against visiting Dixon. The Vikings held the Rams in check almost the entire night, then needed Orme's late touchdown to breathe a little easier in a 20-7 victory at George Gammon Field.

Orme scored from 36 yards out with 2:44 left, twisting and turning and finally crossing the plane of the goal-line just before he went out of bounds. He looked at a pair of referees for several seconds before one of them finally gave a touchdown signal.

"I had to make sure it was a touchdown before I did anything," Orme said. "I just had great blocking from Cory Elerbee, and really everyone. We had great momentum."

The Vikings took the momentum from the opening kickoff, when Dixon fumbled and John Little recovered the ball on the Rams' 26-yard line.

Three plays later, Vanden had the lead for good after a 16-yard touchdown pass from Ben Scott to David Bucannon.

But the Vikings still led just 7-0 three-and-a-half quarters later. Vanden missed a field goal, Dixon's Marcos Pangelinan recovered a fumble in his own end zone, and a combined 17 penalties kept both teams from doing too much offensively.

Dixon's penalties proved more costly, however. The second-to-last one was the killer, when the Rams were whistled for too many men on the field with Vanden ready to punt on Dixon's 46-yard line.

Orme put the game away on the next play.

Dixon still had plenty of reason for optimism despite falling to 0-2.

The Rams finished with 226 yards of offense, 166 of that total coming on their last two drives.

Ryan Baptiste began the first big push, but took a big, clean hit from Andrew Roberts and left the game. Pangelinan finished the first drive by scrambling in from 22 yards out for Dixon's first offensive score of the year.

Pangelinan added a 71-yard pass play to Luke Cunningham after Orme's TD, but Dixon eventually turned the ball over on downs with 47 seconds left.

The Vikings ran out the clock and breathed a sign of relief.

"We're a very young group, and we still don't understand that you have to play four full quarters of football," Vanden head coach LeVon Haynes said. "We scored early, but then we didn't keep playing. Dixon always plays us tough, and you have to understand that."

Scott added the only other score on a 1-yard quarterback sneak midway through the fourth quarter. He finished with 9-for-20 passing for 88 yards.

O'shea Bryant led Vanden with 83 yards rushing, and Orme added 79.

Paul McCarty was Dixon's top rusher with 42 yards. Andrew Smith led the defense, and Cunningham batted away several passes.

Vanden host Will C. Wood next Friday. Dixon has the week off.
 

Junior quarterback Ben Scott is back at the helm of Vanden High School's offense after setting a school record with 27 TD passes. (Sean Moffett/PicsoftheGame.com)

Scott and the Vanden High School football team get back on the field tonight, a day early and about 250 too late, as Scott sees it.

The junior quarterback had the kind of season most high school students dream about in 2009, but you'd never know to hear him tell about it.

"I can't wait ... that Oakdale game left a bad taste in my mouth," Scott said of the Vikings' season-ending loss in the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs. "That and Rodriguez. I've been thinking about those for a long time."

Scott gets a chance to wipe out his most recent exploits as the Vikings host Dixon. Junior varsity action kicks off at 6 p.m., with the varsity game to follow.

Vanden went 9-2 last year with a sophomore at the helm, and could be even better now that Scott is in 11th grade. Scott smashed the school record for TD passes in a season in 2009, throwing seven more than Blake MacAhren's 20 in 2005.

Scott also threw for 2,174 yards, and led the Vikings to a share of the Solano County Athletic Conference title for the third straight season.

"Oh yeah, I remember the good stuff, too," Scott said.

Vanden head coach LeVon Haynes hopes his junior makes more good memories this fall.

"Obviously, you don't want to think about last year too much," Haynes said. "But you can't help but be excited. You want for him to do well."

It's easy to see why Haynes is fired up. Rarely in high school football has a player emerged as Scott did last year.

"It was huge ... I just never expected those kind of numbers from him," Haynes said. "You think about the history of this school, and to think that he broke the record for touchdown passes as a sophomore ... by a lot. It was just a phenomenal season."

Haynes and Scott both know the 2009 numbers may be hard to duplicate, let alone surpass. Vanden lost several big weapons surrounding Scott, including three offensive weapons who signed NCAA letters of intent to continue their careers at four-year colleges.

Chris Broadnax, Scott's favorite target with 43 catches for 1,035 yards and 15 TDs, is now at Sac State. Damon Treat, the Vikings' leading rusher who also had 324 receiving yards, went to St. Cloud (Minn.) State. And hard-hitting Deone Bucannon, who made more of an impact on defense but still added 20 catches for 264 yards, moved on to Washington State.

"It's weird looking around and not seeing them," Scott said. "We had some nice weapons, but I think we can have that with the new people coming in as well."

Ironically, Scott may even have better chemistry with the new crop of varsity players. Wide receivers Cody Holbein and David Bucannon, tight end Kris Muse and running backs O'shea Bryant and J.J. Hong all are juniors, just like Scott.

Haynes is encouraging the early reunion of the class of 2012, along with senior returners in running back Kevin Orme, tight end Jaqueal Howard and wide receiver Darryl Hopson, among others.

"My job is just to let him know he really doesn't have to do more ... trust your guys," Haynes said. "That core group is going to be in his class, their first year together.

"Put that together with the seniors and we have a lot of weapons. We lost a lot of weapons, but you look at the guys we have ... maybe it's a breakout year for all of them."

Scott already had his breakout, but he can't see why the best isn't still yet to come.

"This year I feel like I'm a better quarterback," he said. "I've got that year of experience at the varsity level. In the summer, it seemed like everything was moving slower, which is good. I have a little bit more arm strength as well."

Scott also has a burning desire to erase memories of 2009 -- or at least the bad ones.
 

In a local high school football season where two teams already have played before September 1, this week's regular Friday night kickoffs are anything but regular.

Will C. Wood and Vacaville both will play on Friday night this week -- Wood hosts Pioneer of Woodland at Tom Zunino Stadium, while Vacaville plays at Rodriguez -- but they are the exception rather than the norm.

Vanden kicks off its season Thursday night at home against longtime rival Dixon, in a game that used to be saved for the end of the season rather than the beginning.

The game was supposed to be at Dixon on Friday, but facilities issues, combined with the Labor Day weekend, altered the day and location of the contest.

"We should be ready," Vanden head coach LeVon Haynes said. "Honestly, what's going to be weird is going to school on Friday without a game to play that night. But we will deal with it. Considering all that was going on this weekend, this was the best move."

The switches made Dixon's schedule even stranger than before. The Rams already have a game under their belts, a 34-6 loss to Foothill of Palo Cedro last Friday in a "zero week" game.

Rio Vista also kicked off the season last week, in a 34-12 loss to Delta in Clarksburg.

The early start is nothing new for the Rams, although it is an anomaly for a Sac-Joaquin Section squad -- Rio Vista moved back into the Sac-Joaquin this season, and now is in the Sierra Delta League with Vacaville Christian.

VCS opens the season on Friday, but the Falcons will have to get up early for their debut. They travel to San Andreas to play at Sierra Ridge-Rite of Passage, which doesn't have lights and doesn't play on Saturdays.

The 1 p.m. start on Friday means that Falcon players will have the day off from school, but will leave the VCS parking lot at 8 a.m.

"We may stop for lunch, but we may not be able to ... it's a bit of a drive," VCS head coach Chris Smith said. "It will be different, but I think we'll be ready."

Ready or not, here the openers come -- just not at the usual days or times.
 

Dixon High quarterback Luka Alaupovic (left) is pressured by teammate Anthony Salaber at practice. (Joel Rosenbaum / The Reporter)

Winslow, head football coach at Dixon High School, had thought about leaving the program this season before deciding to help assistant head coach Wes Besseghini ease into the position.

The two coaches -- Besseghini was the Rams' defensive coordinator the last two seasons -- can look to each other for familiarity. Almost everything is different for Dixon.

The first glaring change is the start date for Winslow, Besseghini and company. Tonight's regular-season kickoff against Foothill of Palo Cedro (another new opponent) is the earliest in school history.

"I think we'll be ready," Besseghini said cautiously. "I feel like we're getting better every day. We'll see what happens."

The Rams have lots of questions. And with a "zero-week" game in the state's new scheduling format, they should have some answers before most other squads.

One big question comes at quarterback, where Ryan Baptiste and exchange student Luka Alaupovic are battling to replace Jeffrey Anderson.

"Obviously, Jeffrey's shoes are absolutely huge to fill," Besseghini said of the QB who led the Rams to back-to-back Capital Valley Conference titles. "They probably both will get snaps (tonight)."

Anderson was one of 22 seniors who graduated, representing 18 starting spots.

Baptiste is one of the few starters returning from last year's team, but he started at middle linebacker.

The Rams may focus on their ground game while adjusting to Anderson's replacement. Paul McCarty and A.J. Bell are the top candidates in the backfield, which lost leading rusher Michael Hendrix and a host of others.

Jake MacKenzie has moved from center to guard to bolster an offensive line hit by graduation and injuries. Two-way tackles Hunter Kett and Cody Riede both are back, but won't be available until mid-September.

Marcos Pangelinan, Dixon's junior varsity quarterback last year, has moved to wide receiver. Other targets include tight ends Anthony Salaber and Danny Kitchen, who can line up as receivers in the Rams' spread offense.

Johnny Freitas should see plenty of action on the defensive line, at least until Kett and Riede heal. Brothers Anthony and Nick Salaber will start as bookend ends.

Baptiste anchors the defense in the middle, and McCarty, Andrew Smith and Josh Short give the Rams depth at linebacker. Bell and Luke Cunningham will see time at defensive back.

Julio Reyes returns as the team's place-kicker.

The Rams face longtime rival Vanden next week in the Vikings' opener, then get a week off before facing rival Winters.

Dixon opens Golden Empire League play -- another big change -- Oct. 8 at home against Lindhurst.