Cardinal Newman's defense dominated Friday and big plays from the offense helped lead to a 27-7 win over the #89 team in the State, Vacaville High School.

Newman's defense put consistent pressure on 2 star Air Force Commit QB Brody Fortunati and were able to stop the Vacaville pass game, putting Fortunati in the negatives with -7 total passing yards and a pick. Zach Raia made that interception and it lead to a Jayson Colter TD pass to Jonah Bertoli that put Newman up 20-0.

Cristian Diosdado was a highly touted RB coming into the game and had averaged 8.5+ yards per carry, but Newman held him to just 5 yards per carry as Diosdado went 21 carries for 105 yards. Newman's defensive pressure was so overwhelming that Diosdado was targeted on screens 6 times and only made 3 catches for -8 yards. The other 3 times, the Newman defense was in the backfield and blew it up.

DB Dominick Torres was a huge part of the pressure on screens, breaking up 2 passes and get a couple TFLs. "My mindset heading into this game was to be an underdog. I knew they (Vacaville) were going to target me a lot because of my size and all that, but I can't let that get the best of me, so I had to lock into this game and show them I'm like that," Torres said post game when asked about his mindset.

Torres said this about the win, "Feels good my last year to beat them, feels really good."

The Newman defensive ends, Jesse Myers and James McKenzie and Newman LBs, Zachariah Raia and Logan Rodriguez got into the backfield and blew up draw plays to Diosdado consistently. They also sacked Fortunati multiple times and brought so much pressure that Fortunati began to just throw the ball away.

Fortunati was 4 for 14, and was 0 for 5 in the 2nd Half, overthrowing or throwing away every pass.

"Game plan? Just rip into those tackles, get in the backfield and put pressure on that QB and we did... Last 3 quarters, he was airing it out, so he was scared, but we did a good job," Jesse Myers said post game about how Newman's line forced Fortunati to throw the ball away so much.

His last pass of the night was on a 4th and 14 in the 4th Quarter from the Newman 22 yard line that flew incomplete and out of bounds that gave Newman the ball and a chance to run the clock out.

Newman's defense was incredibly good, a huge step up from last year, and looked like they can hold the line during close games. Holding Vacaville, an offense that had averaged 300+ yards per game heading into the contest, to under 100 yards is massive for the Cardinals and shows how dominant their new defensive scheme is.

"I feel awesome. Tonight was a great win. We worked our (butts) off out there. Tonight was great. Just do it again next week," James McKenzie said when asked about the win.

Coach Richard Sanchez took over defensive play calling and has a vibrant new defense that looks like the top defense in Sonoma County.