Duran dominates Bloss Bowl win

The Bloss Bowl Trophy is headed back to Buhach Colony.

The Thunder made sure of it with a 49-13 win over Atwater in Bloss Bowl IX on Friday night at Falcons Field.

Buhach Colony (5-5 overall, 2-3 Central California Conference) jumped out to a 42-0 lead and cruised to the win.

“That trophy has been in our weight room so long I think it was kind of a shock to our guys when we lost it last year,” said Thunder head coach Kevin Navarra. “That was the focus this week. Our seniors wanted to be the group to bring the trophy back.”

It was a big night for Buhach Colony quarterback Nathan Duran, who spent his first three years of high school at Atwater.

Duran ran in a touchdown to help give the Thunder a 21-0 lead at the half. He then hooked up with three different receivers for touchdowns in the second half to put the game away.

Duran threw touchdowns to Justin Stefani, Quian Newson and Aundre Sherman.

“I think Nate was under a lot of pressure this week,” Navarra said. “You look at his situation, spending his first three years at Atwater and then coming over here for his senior year.

“Early in the week, he was putting too much pressure on himself. I kind of had to tell him, ‘Look, you’ve been playing this game for 10 years. Have fun and go out and make a good memory.’ That’s what we did.”

Sherman put the Thunder on the board in the first quarter with a 38-yard touchdown run on a sweep. Duran and Roy Gutierrez both added second-quarter touchdown runs.

“I thought we had great balance tonight,” Navarra said. “Our inside game was taken away early, but we were able to pass to the perimeter and we got some sweeps in. I think that helped open our inside run game later with Justin.”

This story was originally published November 7, 2014 at 11:15 PM with the headline "Duran dominates Bloss Bowl win."