San Ramon Valley Cruises in Opener

It was a rough day for the San Ramon Valley High community on Friday as word spread of the passing of 2010 graduate , a marine who was killed in combat in Afghanistan.

“He’s the type of kid that you’ll never forget,” San Ramon Valley coach Mark Kessler said. “A lot of the kids on our team knew him or were somehow connected to him.”

So with heavy hearts the No. 7 seeded Wolves cruised to a 42-14 lead against No. 10 Castro Valley in the first round of the North Coast Section Division I playoffs.

Cal-bound QB Zach Kline completed 18 of 29 passes for 281 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Wolves (8-3). San Ramon was brilliant in the first half, while building a 28-0 lead but took a step back in the third quarter.

Kline threw a pair of interceptions in the quarter, but Brian Danis picked off a pair of passes for SRV.

After a Castro Valley touchdown, the Trojans went for – and recovered – and onside kick. On the next play Castro Valley scored on a 52-yard touchdown run to cut the deficit to 28-14.

Still it never felt like Castro Valley would seriously threaten San Ramon – and with the game all but locked up, Kessler said it was more noticeable that several players had Corral on their minds.

Running back Jordan Weiss had a big game, running for 95 yards and a touchdown and catching four passes for 84 yards, including a 34-yard score on a screen pass.

Michael Tagliaferri caught five passes for 75  yards for the Wolves, who will now play at James Logan in the NCS quarterfinals next week.

On what the team knows about Logan, Kline said: “Nothing.” The team will start watching Logan tape this weekend.

The Mission Valley Athletic League champions went 10-0 during the regular season. The gaudy record is partially a product of an easy schedule, but the Colts are talented on offense with Warren Miles Long. Long ran for 1,094 yards on 111 carries in the regular season.