Gold Pan stays put as Bruins blast Cougars

SHINGLE SPRINGS — The tradition continues. Long-standing rivals, Ponderosa and El Dorado, returned to the gridiron Friday for the annual Gold Pan game with the host Bruins determined to maintain possession of the trophy and the Cougars equally focused on ending Ponderosa's 10-year domination and returning the coveted prize to their Placerville campus.

El Dorado hung in for the first quarter and part of the second. But after Ponderosa took a 21-16 lead, the Bruins took off — using a punishing ground attack and capitalizing on Cougar turnovers to open up a 35-16 halftime advantage on their way to a 52-22 victory.

Ponderosa struck right away, opening the game with a march downfield behind the rushing of Ben Boardway, 10 carries for 73 yards, and Christian Canepa (5-47). The Bruins found paydirt on a 32-yard pass from Jacob Bist to Ryan Jet Albertazzi and Connor Swartz tacked on the extra point. Boardway's 2-yard rumble off right tackle midway through the first quarter increased the lead to 14-0.

The Cougars battled back, grabbing possession on Clayton Van Duyn's fumble recovery. On fourth-and-10 from the 20, Travis Allec exploded through the middle of the line and found the end zone to put the Cougars on the board. Van Duyn's two-point conversion cut the Bruin lead to six. Allec rushed for 62 yards and two touchdowns on the evening.

El Dorado's momentum was short-lived. The Bruins answered with Chris Hobb's 25-yard touchdown — the first of four he had to go along with 145 yards rushing.

“This was a game we really wanted and the team was focused at keeping the Gold Pan at Ponderosa," Hobbs said. "Tonight our whole team showed tremendous effort and we executed our plays well. Now we need to keep working hard, compete and stay focused on our goals."

Weather threatened from the opening kickoff and right after Hobbs' touchdown, that had Ponderosa up 21-8, the game was halted for lightning in the area. When the game resumed, Van Duyn rumbled for 16  yards to the land of quick six for El Dorado and Travis Vincent's pass to Gabe Derilo for a two-point conversion cut the Bruin lead to five, 21-16.

“We really showed some great effort tonight, but we had some penalties and turnovers that our team can have difficulty overcoming. We're looking forward to next week though and hope to have a good night in front of our home crowd,” El Dorado coach Dale Kasnic said.

After El Dorado's touchdown, Ponderosa took a commanding 38-16 lead into halftime behind Hobbs' touchdown runs of 21 and 3 yards, and a 31-yard field goal by Swartz.

“Our team was really motivated tonight and played inspired," Ponderosa coach Jason Tenner said. "I'm proud of the way the team played, but we're still a work in progress and look to improve over the season.”

The Bruins and Cougars battled evenly in the second half, with each team scoring late touchdowns as Vincent hit Zack Brown with a 48-yard touchdown pass for El Dorado while Ponderosa got a 6 yard rushing score from Brett Jonutz.

The game was the KCRA Game of the Week. For the win, the Bruins will be treated to a pizza party Sunday by the station.