Prep football roundup: Marin teams enjoy strong debuts in Redwood Empire

Redwood Empire Conference play officially kicked off in the Valley and Mountain leagues this weekend with many Marin teams enjoying successful debuts.

San Rafael and Redwood both drove north on Friday night and came home with victories. Tam stayed home and cruised to a shutout win against Justin-Siena. Novato stayed inside the county and picked up a win against Archie Williams.

San Rafael 18, Healdsburg 13

The Bulldogs overcame a slow start, scoring all 18 of their points in the third quarter to rally past Healdsburg (3-2, 0-1 Mountain) on Friday night.

San Rafael (3-1, 1-0) trailed 7-0 at the break but Hayden Berlinsky took the opening kickoff of the third quarter 75 yards for a touchdown to pull the Bulldogs within 7-6.

Torin Pilla had an interception on the ensuing drive and San Rafael took the lead for good at 12-7 on a short touchdown run by Josue Munoz.

Berlinsky gave San Rafael an 18-7 lead on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Lachlan Royston, who came in at quarterback after starter Joe Miller was injured on the first play of the game.

San Rafael has its Homecoming game next Friday against Sonoma Valley in what’s expected to be an important game in the Mountain League title race.

Tam 47, Justin-Siena 0

Reed Edwards threw three touchdown passes as the Red-tailed Hawks went up big early and rolled past the Braves (2-2, 0-1 Valley) on Saturday. Edwards threw a pair of touchdown passes to Timo Ural and another one to Cole Kramlich.

Tam (1-4, 1-0) also got a pair of touchdown runs from Ethan Koo and one from Miles Kelsey. Ural added a third touchdown on a punt return. Alex Christopher had an interception and Octavien Green took a screen pass 60 yards to highlight the rest of the action for Tam, which led 40-0 at the half.

The Red-tailed Hawks travel to American Canyon next Friday then hit the road again the following week for a Thursday afternoon game against Redwood.

Redwood 31, Petaluma 14

Sean Cunneen ran for 227 yards and three touchdowns as Redwood (3-2, 1-0 Valley) rolled past Petaluma (1-4, 0-1) on Friday night.

Cunneen broke off a pair of long touchdown runs, including a 72-yarder, as the Giants pulled away in the second half after leading 10-6 at the break. Redwood also got a big play from its defense, with Miles Harrison returning a fumble 87 yards for the opening touchdown.

Kicker William Suko made a 28-yard field goal and all four of his extra points for the Giants.

San Marin 38, Ukiah 31

The Mustangs (5-0) closed out their non-league campaign with a big second-half rally to take down Ukiah (2-2) on Friday night. The Mustangs’ only score of the first half came on a safety as they trailed 17-2 going into the locker room.

After San Marin turned the ball over on fumbles multiple times in the first half, the Mustangs’ defense turned Ukiah over on back-to-back possessions to climb back into the game. San Marin held the lead at the end of the third quarter.

Wesley Timmel caught a pair of touchdowns and Joey Cipollina caught one pass for a score. In addition to those touchdown passes, quarterback Daniel Rolovich also ran for a touchdown.

San Marin and Marin Catholic both have byes next week before opening Adobe League play against each other under the lights at San Marin on Oct. 11.

Marin Catholic 17, Edison 7

Jarred Geissberger and Caedon Afsharipour ran for touchdowns as the Wildcats won a defensive battle against Edison (0-5) on Friday night.

MC (3-2) got a field goal from Charlie Carroll on its opening drive but Edison came right back with a touchdown for a 7-3 lead. Geissberger and Afsharipour found the end zone in the first half as MC went into the break with a 17-7 lead. MC’s defense pitched a shutout from there to secure the win.

“Edison is winless but the teams they lost to were Clovis West, Central from Fresno, Grant from Sacramento — teams that were ranked in the state — so they were a group we couldn’t take lightly,” MC coach Mazi Moayed said.

The news wasn’t all positive for MC, which lost wide receiver Braiden Bachich-Dixon to injury during the game. Bachich-Dixon “is going to be out for a little while,” according to Moayed.

Terra Linda 27, Washington 18

Quarterback Josh Milani and receiver Mateo Pattani put together strong second-half performances as TL rallied out of a 12-0 hole at halftime to take down Washington of San Francisco (1-3) in a non-league contest Saturday.

Milani and Pattani connected for scores in the third quarter alone as the Trojans (3-1) stormed back into the game. TL added another touchdown on a short run by Michael Graham in the fourth quarter.

Milani completed 27 of his 39 passes for 241 yards. Pattani caught 13 balls for 169 yards. Graham carried the ball 10 times for 56 yards.