The Healdsburg Hounds beat the Cloverdale Eagles 35-21 on Friday at Recreation Park. The win ended one of the longest losing streaks in school history. They were winless for 1,071 days with their last win coming back in 2021 against Kennedy High School on September 24 with a different coach and when the current Seniors were Freshmen.
Since then, a lot has changed in Healdsburg and Friday’s win is the beginning of a new era. With brand new goal posts yellower than New York taxis, as well as a completely new coaching staff, the Hounds were poised to impress. They were definitely dressed to impress on “Black Out” Night with brand new red helmets with chrome decals and nice black jerseys with white pants with red stripes.
New Head Coach Criss Rosales got his first win for his alma mater Friday, a win that everyone had been waiting for. “It feels very good to come home,” Rosales said postgame. “These kids are hungry, these kids wanted it.” Rosales played for Healdsburg from 2009-2013 and continued his career in college at SRJC. Rosales coached for St. Vincent de Paul High School before Healdsburg and won the State Championship last year as an assistant for the Mustangs. Rosales was very excited and jumped at the chance to take over Healdsburg heading into this year. His first win Friday brought his alma mater out of a historic drought and gave them their first winning record since the opening week of 2021.
Healdsburg’s defensive dominance showed all game with the defensive line making great plays to stop the Cloverdale run game. Healdsburg captain and edge rusher Nathaniel Rowland accounted for four sacks, six TFL and put a ton of pressure on the Cloverdale QB. Rowland played out of his mind, a performance truly for the history books and had this to say postgame, “It feels great honestly. But if it wasn’t for my team, I wouldn’t have gotten those sacks or tackles for loss… We got the win as a team.” The linebackers collapsed on the run to help limit Cloverdale to low amounts of yards per carry. The secondary locked down the pass as the Eagles only threw nearly ten times only completing two passes and throwing one pick. Carson Brown was a lot to handle for the Hounds on the ground, though. Brown broke tackles and carried defenders en route to scoring 3 touchdowns, all on the ground, for the Eagles.
On offense, the Hounds were very run heavy, moving the ball well with their fast duo in the backfield of RB Xander Harms and QB Nova Perrill II. They were not scared to throw it, however, with Perrill setting up screens to WR Areum Romero that created big plays and improvising and escaping the pocket to fire to one of his big wideouts. The first score for Healdsburg came after an early Cloverdale fumble that was recovered by Andrew Barr deep in Eagles territory. The next play, Healdsburg went play action and Perrill, flushed out of the pocket, scrambled to his right and found Hayden Mariani for a touchdown to put the Hounds up 6-0. Perrill ended up finding Mariani again in the 3rd Quarter for another touchdown that put the Hounds up 28-7.
Cloverdale responded to that early 3rd Quarter TD from Healdsburg, mounting two fantastic drives that ended with two Carson Brown TDs and cut the Healdsburg lead to seven. The Hounds offense came back to life and mounted a beautiful drive that culminated in Nova Perrill escaping the pocket and scrambling 15 yards to the goal line to set up Andrew Barr who punched it in on the run to seal the deal. “It feels great. I love Healdsburg. (I’ve) gotta represent. Go Hounds,” Barr said postgame about ending the drought. Barr has lived in Healdsburg for a while and spent a majority of his elementary school and junior high years at St. John the Baptist Catholic School in Healdsburg. After attending Cardinal Newman for a year, Barr transferred to Healdsburg and has been able to establish himself as a linebacker and running back for the Hounds. He is poised to have a big junior year.
The man who was all over the place for the Hounds was Frank Rea. Rea was out there for Healdsburg on offense, defense and special teams. Rea dominated for the Hounds and made a huge play on a kickoff in the 2nd Quarter. After a roughing the kicker penalty on a Cloverdale PAT, the Eagles were set to kickoff at the Healdsburg 45. Jorge Guerrero sent a pooch kick back to the five yard line where Fank Rea picked it up. Receiving great blocks and with great speed, Rea took it all the way back, 95 yards to the endzone untouched to put the Hounds back up two scores. The next possession Rea picked off a pass in the red zone from Cloverdale QB Kyle Bernardi to end the bid for the Eagles bringing the game within one score heading to the break. Rea was extremely excited postgame, “It feels great. Healdsburg is back in the winning game and it feels great.”
The Hounds will face the 0-1 St. Helena Saints next Friday at Recreation Park at 7 PM and are eager to stay undefeated on the year. Cloverdale, led by Head Coach and Healdsburg graduate Jason Mora, are looking to get their first win next Friday in their home opener against Vacaville Christian.
Cover Photo Credit: Jim Rowland of Healdsburg Sports Captured
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