Friday night was the first matchup between Downey and Elk Grove's Monterey Trail, and though they had never faced off, the two programs have reputations that speak for themselves.
Jeremy Plaa is in his 20th season as Knights head coach and has the team and its prolific passing attack constantly contending for CCAL titles. Downey has won three of the last five league championships and in the 12-team playoff format consistently hosted postseason contests.
TJ Ewing has always had the Mustangs playing well, but in recent years, they have taken it up even another notch. According to MaxPreps, they have not lost a Delta League game since 2017, are consistently hosting first-round playoff games and played for a Division II section title as a No. 7 seed against Central Catholic in 2021.
"I've got tons of respect for coach Ewing and Monterey Trail," Plaa said. "He's been doing it there maybe a year or two longer than I've been here. I've listened to him talk at clinics and I think he does things the right way, and his kids are a reflection of what he does."
Downey (0-2) did everything it could to stay attached to Monterey Trail (1-1) in the first half.
Do-it-all running back Elias Haynes caught passes out of the backfield and rumbled behind the Knights' offensive line. In the second quarter, he extended his own school record for touchdowns with a 15-yard catch and run from senior starting quarterback Julian Masaniai. It was his only score on the night but No. 41 of his career.
Masaniai was accurate, tossing touchdown passes to seniors Chris Cannon and Owen Sacuskie in addition to Haynes and completing 23 of 32 passes for 267 yards in just the first two quarters. Downey scored on its first two drives of the game and at halftime trailed 21-20.
"We got into some good rhythm where we were moving the ball pretty wel, and we realized we can still throw the ball against anybody," Plaa said. "One of our defensive ends is out, our center is out, so we showed some maturity in terms of next guy step up and next guy play well."
Masaniai threw two interceptions, one in the first half and one in the second. The second-half pick prompted a quarterback change and sophomore Nehemiah Tomanogi led a scoring drive capped by a 57-yard connection with Brooklyn Gibson. On the Knights' next drive, Tomanogi was picked off, the third interception between the two quarterbacks on the night.
Downey had a chance to flip the momentum back on its side on the Mustangs' ensuing drive, backing them up to the 1-yard line on second and 14, but Monterey Trail turned it into a scoring drive while chewing up nearly eight minutes of game time in the fourth quarter.
Downey got the ball back with 3 minutes, 48 seconds in the game in a 54-33 game, but a pair of holding penalties and a mistimed snap kept the drive from moving forward.
"There were three or four big-time first downs where we had them on third down but just couldn't get the stop, and number 20 (Nigel Flowers) is a heck of a back, I'm sure he's going to go play in college somewhere," Plaa said. "There were multiple times where we had him wrapped up and he still found a way to get a first down."
As the game wore on, the Monterey Trail rushing trio of quarterback Viliami Kefu, sophomore running back Nigel Flowers and junior running back Xander McKee seemingly never tired.
Flowers put the Mustangs first points on the board before the offense touched the field, answering Downey's opening drive touchdown with a 92-yard kickoff return touchdown.
In the rushing attack, Flowers consistently plugged away, getting three, four, five yards per carry to the tune of 106 yards and a touchdown on 24 attempts. McKee did more of the same, adding 83 yards and a score on 14 carries.
Kefu kept the Knights' defensive line and backers guessing all night, making sure the ball got into the right back's hand. He rarely pulled it for himself, but when he did, it was explosive.
He rushed for 60 yards early then on the first play of a third quarter drive following an interception, made it a 39-26 game with a 53-yard touchdown run. He also threw a pair of touchdown passes, including the dagger, a 22-yard completion to a wide open Jordan Wynne with 3:56 left in the game.
"Hopefully we don't see that option anymore because it's hard to stop," Plaa said.
All night, the Mustangs' defense took away any momentum Downey tried to muster. In the first half, Niko Gonzalvo came up with an interception and Albert Dennis recovered a bad snap on back-to-back Downey possessions. In the second half, Gonzalvo made sure the game stayed out of reach, picking off each of Downey's quarterbacks once to cap a three-interception game.
Could a Week 2 game have playoff implications down the line? In this case, yes.
Monterey Trail has consistently slotted one to two spots ahead of Downey in the Division I postseason in recent seasons, which made scheduling a game like this important, especially with the new playoff format.
In a 12-team bracket, Downey at a No. 6, No. 7 or No. 8 seed would have had a home game before traveling to the Sacramento-area to play a powerhouse like Folsom. With the new format, their only shot at a home game is to host is by securing a top four seed.
Good showings, and even wins, against some of Sacramento's perennial playoff teams could earn the Knights the respect from the seeding committee to grant them a first round home game.
Friday night, Plaa said, they proved they are just a few plays away from getting there. But they continue the toughest non-league schedule in recent school history with games against Merced, Grant and Lincoln of Stockton before CCAL play.
"Every year, if you look at the seedings, they're a five or a six seed and we're a seven or an eight seed," Plaa said. "So if we want that credibility, we have to beat these teams. As coaches we have to do a better job getting our players ready. This one could have gone either way there for a while."
