Stone Ridge Christian picks up first loss against undefeated Woodland Christian
Stone Ridge Christian football coach Art DeJager has been coaching a long time and he knows his team isn’t going to get better beating teams by 60 points.
He’d rather see his team tested. He wants to see how they handle adversity. How they react in crucial moments.
DeJager got to see plenty of those situations on Saturday night as the Knights dropped their first loss of the season with a 21-14 defeat to Woodland Christian at Castle Field in a battle of two teams that came in with perfect 3-0 records.
DeJager says playing good teams is crucial.
“It makes us better,” he said. “Last week we played a team that we shouldn’t have been on the same field with but this makes us better, because we had to play every play tonight and we didn’t get it done.”
After cruising to a 62-0 win over Foresthill last week the Knights (3-1) were in a dogfight from the start against the Cardinals, who lost to Le Grand in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division VII championship last season to finish 11-1.
Woodland Christian came in with size and speed and that combination worked for some big plays when the Cardinals needed them.
Senior Billy Hinkle came up with the biggest plays for Woodland Christian. The Cardinals moved him around the field at receiver, running back, quarterback and he finished with 100 yards rushing and two touchdowns on nine carries. He also had a 42-yard catch on the first play of the game.
“We knew coming into this game that they had more speed, especially on the outside,” DeJager said. “(Hinkle) and (Noah Hinkle) have more speed than our guys do but we worked hard this week on containing. They broke a few on us.”
The Knights still battled to the end.
Trailing 14-0, Stone Ridge Christian churned out a 15-play drive that covered 69 yards as Hector Esquivez scored on a 1-yard touchdown to pull the Knights within 14-6 with 57 seconds left in the first half.
Esquivez led the Knights in rushing with 85 rushing yards and 14 carries.
The two teams failed to score in the third quarter and Woodland Christian extended its lead late in the fourth quarter when Billy Hinkle scored on a 2-yard run to give the Cardinals a 21-7 lead.
Stone Ridge Christian was forced to ditch its power-running attack and with to a four-receiver package.
The Knights quickly marched down the field with tight end Max Friedman catching five passes for 42 yards, including an 8-yard touchdown pass from Noah Lund to pull SRC within 21-14 with 50 seconds remaining.
The Knights attempted an onside kick and the kick bounced twice, giving SRC players a shot at recovering it before Woodland Christian’s Jauquin Rodriguez finally pounced on the ball to preserve the victory.
DeJager felt there was at least one thing he didn’t see from his team during the loss.
“One thing I know is we have to be more of the physical team we claim to be,” he said. “We didn’t show it tonight.”
The Knights host Vacaville Christian on Friday night.
