Cordova no match as Whitney rolls 42-0

It appeared the Cordova High Lancer just might be able to hang around with the Whitney High football team, Friday. The Wildcats twice turned the ball over deep in their own territory, but Cordova came up empty on both occasions.It could have been the 'Cats were a bit distracted in the beginning with Friday being senior night. However, after the first five minutes of the first quarter, Whitney broke things open to win handily, 42-0.Pinned back on their 13-yard line to begin their third possession, the Wildcats went 87 yards in four plays. Running back Connor Graves covered the last 10 yards for the first score of the game. The drive was aided by two runs of 17, and 60 yards by quarterback Jake Rodriques.The Wildcats' defense then forced the Lancers into a three-and-out. Cordova punted to Whitney's 47. After the 'Cats lost a yard on the first play, on second-and-11, Rodriques laid the ball into wide receiver Corey Palin's hands for a 54-yard scoring strike."I just tried to play all out and run full speed," said Palin of his three receptions for 99 yards," and Jake threw great balls."The maroon-and-gold closed out the half with three more touchdowns. The first came on a 14-yard strike from Rodriques to Jalen Cope-Fitzpatrick, the next was a 19-yard run by Rodrigues. The Wildcats closed out the second quarter on a 38-yard scoring pass from Rodrigues to Ryan Giacomini that culminated a 78-yard drive.As for the defense, the Lancers had a negative 42 yards rushing in the first half. They made up 40 of that through the air connecting on 6-of-14 passes. However, Whitney's Tyler Torres picked off their last pass of the half."This week we worked on stunting, and we would jump outside on the tackle," said Whitney defensive tackle Ian Bamsey. "That really worked."In the third quarter, Cordova controlled the ball for much of the period. The Lancers picked up two first downs and drove the ball to the Wildcats' 41. Cope-Fitzpatrick then sacked Cordova's quarterback Mike Hicks back to the 50 to kill the drive.Rodrigues then found Sutter Choisser on a 46-yard bomb to set up the game's final TD. Jordan Powell got the call to take it in from 4-yards out.From that point on, Whitney substituted freely, and replaced Rodrigues with backup quarterback Alex Yount.Cordova rushed for 23 yards in the second half, and passed for 43."Our (offensive) line has been working hard, and we're really starting to play together," said Whitney head coach Mike Gimenez. "And we did a lot of good things on defense that we haven't done in the past. We got some good stops; that's some positive things."Whitney invades Antelope next Friday to determine who will emerge as the Capital Athletic League champions. The Titans, 5-3, and 3-0 in league, were scheduled to play at Rio Americano, Friday.The Wildcats improved to 7-2, 4-0 in league.Whitney 42, Cordova 0Lancers 0 0 0 0 – 0Wildcats 14 21 7 0 - 42