Town leads St. Bonaventure to 40-35 win over CoronaCentennial
Sophomore QB Town leads St. Bonaventure in showdown
By Joe Curley
Saturday, September 1, 2012
Todd Therrien didn't have to say how much he trusted Ricky Town.
The St. Bonaventure High football coach showed it Friday night at Moorpark College.
Facing the No. 7-ranked team in the state, his sophomore quarterback dropped back to pass on the
first play from scrimmage, was allowed to wing it out of his own end zone in the second quarter and,
on fourth down in the fourth quarter, raced around right end on a naked bootleg.
"Isn't that some (guts)?" asked Therrien. "That's faith in the quarterback."
Town repaid his coach's faith by throwing for 336 yards and three touchdowns and running for
another score as St. Bonaventure held off Centennial-Corona, 40-35, in a thriller Friday night at
Moorpark College.
St. Bonaventure senior Zach Green ran for 164 yards and a touchdown and junior Bryce Dixon
caught seven passes for 185 yards and two touchdowns as the Seraphs (2-0) rolled up 536 yards of
total offense to take the showdown of two teams ranked in the top 7 in the state by MaxPreps.com.
Town completed 16of23 passes, throwing scoring strikes of 95 yards and 18 yards to Dixon and 48
yards to senior receiver Montre Lee, as St. Bonaventure opened up leads of 27-7, 33-14 and 40-21.
"I just tried to do my part," Town said.
But Centennial pulled to within 40-35 on two fourth-quarter touchdown passes from Robert Webber
to Barry Ware and recovered an onsides kick with 2:04 to play.
"Way too exciting," Therrien said. "We need to hold onto the football at the end. We need to get the
onsides kick. Holy moly… that offense is just tough to stop."
Until St. Bonaventure linebacker Dalton Rocha stopped Centennial running back Austin Renken on
fourth down to end the threat with 1:52 to play.
"Defense stepped up when they had to," Therrien said. "We just have to play better all the way
around."
Aided by a drive-extending, running-into-the-punter flag, St. Bonaventure took the opening kickoff
and drove 80 yards on 13 plays to take the lead on Town's 2-yard quarterback sneak.
Centennial evened the score, 7-7, on running back Tre Watson's 1-yard run on third-and-goal with
10:08 left in the first half.
From there, the second quarter belonged to the Seraphs, who scored on three straight possessions
to build a 27-7 lead.
First, on fourth-and-1 from the Centennial 3, Green broke a tackle on second effort to turn a turnover
into a 3-yard touchdown run.
Then, Town struck. Backed up to his own 5-yard line, he hit Dixon in stride for a 95-yard scoring
strike down the right sideline. Following a punt, he found Lee over the middle for a 48-yard
touchdown pass with 55 seconds left in the half.
Centennial responded by driving 80 yards in seven plays in 46 seconds. Webber hit receiver Ryan
Pascarella for a 4-yard scoring strike with nine seconds left to make 27-14 at the intermission.
After Centennial punted to open the third quarter, Town ducked a pass rusher and found Dixon in
the flat for an 18-yard touchdown pass and an 33-14 lead. He also found the 6-foot-4 target across
the middle for a trio of third-down conversions.
"That's teamwork," Dixon said.