Updated 11:31 pm, Friday, September 15, 2017
In the first meeting between perennial playoff powers, visiting Rancho Cotate-Rohnert Park survived two second-half interceptions thrown by quarterback Jake Simmons and made two goal-line stands in the fourth quarter to hold off Campolindo-Moraga 33-28.
Simmons finished 25 of 32 for 352 yards and three touchdowns. But he threw three interceptions, the last of which gave Campolindo the ball at the Rancho Cotate 26-yard line with 6:50 remaining.
Campolindo (2-2) got the ball to the 2, but a fourth-down pass by Cougars quarterback John Torchio fell incomplete and Rancho Cotate (4-0) took over and ran out the clock.
Torchio went 20-for-30 for 333 yards and four TDs, with 219 of his yards in the fist half.
Campolindo entered No. 12 in The Chronicle’s Metro rankings and Rancho Cotate was No. 17.
“We knew our defense was good, but to stop them twice like that when our offense was sputtering a bit for the first time this season was incredible,” Rancho Cotate coach Gehrig Hotaling told Harold Abend of Prep2Prep.com.
Said Campolindo coach Kevin Macy: “Our inexperience showed and we bailed them out a couple of times. They were a little more polished.”