West Ranch football’s lines dominated up front throughout its Foothill League battle with Saugus.
The Wildcats won the game, 48-24, behind a near unstoppable defensive pressure and big holes for running back Luke DePerno. The senior back didn’t need all the extra space, as he showed throughout the night breaking dozens of tackles, but he’ll gladly take it.
“Credit to my line, and my receivers,” DePerno said. “They were getting good blocks for me, to just to hit the hole, and I was gone. I bet my line some Rice Krispies at halftime so maybe that’s why.”
DePerno had a typical, for his standards, 283-yard rushing night in the win. DePerno found the first touchdown of the game via a 60-yard scoring run while punching in touchdowns of 40, 27 and 80 yards on Friday at Valencia High School.
The back also added three receptions for 36 yards, putting him over the 300-yard mark.
West Ranch defensive end Max Piccolino got well acquainted with Saugus in the backfield. Piccolino helped the Wildcats go up 14-0 in the first quarter after registering a strip sack, which was recovered by linebacker Connor Wiseman for a touchdown.
The Cats’ front allowed the Centurions nothing on the ground and held Saugus under 30 rushing yards on Friday.
Piccolino also got to Saugus quarterback Jake Nuttall late in the second quarter. Piccolino didn’t get the sack but forced an off-balance throw, which West Ranch linebacker Ethan Quesada reeled in and ran back for a pick-six.
Wildcats quarterback Blake Johnson got his first start of the season on Friday and got to do so against his former squad.
Johnson, a sophomore, played well leading the Cats’ offense on several touchdown drives while finishing with 64% completions and one rushing score.
Johnson ran in his only touchdown, a 23-yard rushing score in the second quarter.
West Ranch coach Chris Varner said his quarterback played well, and entrusted him with multiple big plays on fourth down.
“We have belief in the offense, we have all season,” Varner said. “We were just waiting to kind of get things going. I thought we had a good spark last week against Hart, we put up some yards but we just couldn’t put it together. Saugus is a heck of a program over there. We knew we were gonna get the battle the whole game, but I was just real proud of my guys for not letting off the gas.”
Saugus (2-5, 1-1) stayed within reach in the first half. The Centurions struck first on a 9-yard touchdown pass from Nuttall to sophomore receiver Landon Lattimore.
Lattimore finished the game with eight catches for over 80 yards.
Centurions kicker Noah Miller also hit a 25-yard field goal in the first half.
Tight end Rylan Connelly gave the Centurions big plays over the middle throughout the night. Connelly broke free for a 50-yard reception that helped set up Saugus’ field goal.
West Ranch (3-3, 1-1) pulled away in the second half thanks to the defensive pressure and an interception from safety Sebastian Gonzalez.
DePerno made life easy for Johnson but so did wide receiver Andrew Hamilton, who totaled nine receptions for 86 yards.
Despite being down a starter on the line, West Ranch’s offensive front moved bodies and set the tone in the trenches.
“We suffered an injury (on the line) in game two, so we came back to do some patchwork,” Varner said. “Some new guys came in, and it took a couple weeks to kind of get into rhythm and get the connectivity going. I thought that they did well tonight.”
West Ranch now bounces back after a tough loss to Hart while Saugus stumbles after an impressive win over Canyon.
“It was important,” DePerno said on the win. “It was changed our mood going into league and it definitely raised our confidence. We needed that.”
The Wildcats remain at home to host Castaic while Saugus takes its bye week. West Ranch hosts Castaic on Thursday at 7 p.m. back at Valencia.
