Football: Las Lomas Tops Northgate to Win 'Battle of the Creek'

As far as the football team is concerned, the 'Battle of the Creek' against crosstown rival is just another game on the schedule. 

Regardless of what it means, the Knights came to play Friday at Northgate and left 27-10 winners as running back Jake Villa led the way.

The junior running back dashed for 205 yards on 27 carries and scored three touchdowns.

"I think it's more important to them than it is to us because we're used to always beating them," Villa said. "But it was a big win."

It was the Knights' ninth win against Northgate in the past 10 years, but the Broncos were coming off a .

"It's a good game for the community, but we don't treat it any differently," Las Lomas coach Doug Longero said.

Despite what the final score indicates, it wasn't a one-sided affair. 

Las Lomas led 13-10 headed into the fourth quarter before Villa added his final two touchdown runs. Outside of him, the Knights couldn't find much rhythm on offense, largely due to a change of defensive scheme by the Broncos.

"They did some things defensively that we hadn't seen from them on film," Longero said. "It created some problems for our passing game."

Quarterback Jackson Miller was 5 of 10 for 42 yards with an interception. With Villa having an easy time finding running lanes, it didn't matter.

The win wraps up the non-league portion of the schedule for Las Lomas (4-0), which will travel to Alhambra next week to open Diablo Foothill Athletic League play.  

"We're battling and scrapping to get by," Longero said. "We have some work to do to get some things cleaned up."

He certainly won't mess with the kicking game, which has been impressive thanks to junior Mitchell Howard. Howard was true on field goals from 35 and 30 yards, three PATs and showcased a strong leg on kickoffs.

Northgate (1-3) struggled to get anything going offensively, but did get 107 yards on 12 carries from Sean Han — 75 of which came on one play. The Broncos ran for 185 yards and quarterback Shane Ryan passed for 80.

The Broncos have a bye next week and then will travel to Antioch for its final non-league game on Oct. 7. Northgate will open Diablo Valley Athletic League play on Oct. 14 at home against Mt. Diablo.

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