They say team records, past matchups, and current form are thrown out the window when two close-proximity rivals meet.

That was certainly the case early on in the first half, but eventually, Pioneer High School showed how good they can be and managed to pull away from crosstown rivals Woodland High School, defeating them 28-6 Friday night.

The Patriots win over the Wolves now makes it five straight over their rivals.

“This win puts a smile on my face,” Patriots head coach Matt Bryson said after the game. “We had some lean years at Pioneer for sure, so to beat Woodland five times in a row has been fun. It goes back to two or three classes that aren’t here right now. It’s fun to go out there and continue to win this game.”

The Wolves came into the crosstown non-league showdown at Pioneer High School following two straight losses, each with a different feel. After losing head coach Dane Gallaher’s debut at Mesa Verde 28-7, the Wolves looked vastly improved against Lincoln in their home opener last week. However, that improvement still wasn’t enough to notch Gallagher his first win as they fell 29-12.

“During the game, I could tell we have improved so much defensively,” Gallagher said. “JoJo and Dylan had a good game coming down and making tackles. Brady Colbert was all over the field. My defensive line played phenomenally as well. On offense, we had our moments, but we had four or five first down penalties, and it just killed the momentum right from the get-go. But I’m extremely happy with how the team fought and how much we have improved from just two weeks ago.”

The Patriots came into the matchup on a heater offensively following two straight wins over Dixon at home and then on the road against River Valley by the scores of 35-0 and 42-20. While the offense only mustered two touchdowns on the night, the rest of the team picked up the slack thanks to Landon Dahler’s interception return to the house, and another electric return, this time on a punt, from Patriots burgeoning star Devion Corely.

Pioneer took control of the first possesion in a favorable field position at the Wolves 46 yard line.

During the first drive, the Patriots experienced some ball security issues, fumbling twice and losing possession of the second one after Joseph Cadotte stripped the Patriot’s ball carrier, allowing big man Lincoln Twilley to recover at their 15-yard line.

After the teams traded a few punts, the Wolves shocked the entire home side of the stadium when they scored first, thanks to quarterback Joe Abarca finding Joseph “JoJo” Queazada on a slant for an electric 53-yard touchdown to make it 6-0.

“I feel like we are getting drives going. We just aren’t finishing them,” Gallagher said. “I feel like with any big play we have, we get a first down and then immediately a 50-yard touchdown. I think sustaining drives will come. We just can’t shoot ourselves in the foot. If we clean up our game, we will see a lot more touchdowns.

“I do think the big plays will stick around. We have the athletes to make it happen, but we just need to work on finishing drives when we can.”

Things went from bad to worse for the Patriots as their next drive ended after a sack from the Wolves Decius Felix. Woodland’s next drive, however, stalled out as they were forced to punt, leading to their first mistake of the game.

Instead of punting the ball to the sidelines to keep it away from Corely, Woodland punted the ball right into his eager hands. Corley picked the ball up at the 13-yard line, made a guy miss, and then ran against the grain of the Wolves defenders for an 87-yard punt return for a score, lighting up the stadium.

Following the extra point, they’d take a 7-6 lead that they would not relinquish. Following another Wolves punt, the home side doubled up on touchdowns when Dahler ripped off a hard-nosed 45-yard touchdown run to make it 13-6.

After the stadium calmed down, both teams traded punts or turnovers and went into the halftime break with many adjustments to make. The game was still there for the taking for both sides.

The Wolves got the ball to start the second half and immediately turned the ball over after Abarca rolled out to his right and looked for a receiver. He eventually got near the sideline and attempted to throw the ball away, but a Patriots defensive lineman was right there to bat the ball up in the air, allowing senior Tiburcio Silva to come down with an interception at the Wolves 35-yard line.

Pioneer took over and managed to milk four minutes off the game clock before ultimately missing a field goal that would have given them a two-score lead.

Follwoing another Wolves punt, Corely cemented his Athlete of the Week status with another massive play.

On first down, Corely got the ball on a handoff and didn’t stop running until he crossed the endzone from 86 yards out for a game-breaking touchdown run to make it 19-6. Following an Emilio Casas successful 2-point conversion catch, the score was 21-6 with 1:26 left in the third quarter.

Following a Wovles fumble and Pioneer punt, Woodland got the ball back with plenty of time left to make it a game but would need to hurry. After amassing a few first downs on the ground, thanks to the Wolves’ own star back, Diego Bautista, Pioneer cashed in another game-breaking play.

Fresh off his other big-time touchdown, Dahler fell back into coverage, picked off an Abarca pass, and ran it all the way into the endzone, making it 28-6, icing the game and giving the home team the victory.

“Defensively, they made great adjustments to our running game,” Gallagher said. “They were able to set certain edges and stack certain looks to make it difficult for us to seal blocks. Instead of getting six or seven-yard gains, we’d just get two or three. Overall, they have a great football team. It’s crazy that they have four different running backs running at us. Hats off to Byrson and the staff over there.”

Up next for the Wolves will be another chance to win their first win when they host Wheatland High School (2-0), which plays in the Pioneer Valley League. Gallagher hopes another home game will kickstart the Wolves season.

“We continue to improve, and we continue to grind,” Gallagher said. “I can see the fight in the kids. We need to increase the intensity in practice to make it more game-like. I tell the kids all the time that practice should be hard, so the game is easy. It’s mostly a matter of staying focused throughout the week and executing the game plan, and if we do that, I think that first win will come.”

“Woodland played really hard,” Bryson said. “That first half got really sloppy on both sides. We just shot ourselves in the foot over and over again, and I’m sure Dane would say the same thing about this team. It just wasn’t played cleanly, which can happen in a rivalry game like this. I think we could have played a lot better.”

Pioneer will remain in town and gear up for another in-city rivalry game when they head a few blocks west on Gibson Road to Woodland Christian’s campus, where they will take on a well-rested Cardinals team fresh off a bye week. The Patriots will be seeing red in more ways than one, with revenge on their mind following last year’s 24-15 home loss.

Woodland Christian (1-1) kicked off their season with a road loss to Bradshaw Christian 27-6 and a 50-6 home opening thumping of El Dorado.

“Woodland Christian won a lot last year and had a great year,” Byrson said. “We were one of the two or three games they played last year that were close. They look at their schedule and have eight wins automatically going in, so next week is a big game. They are good. We want to go play well and see what happens.

“We have to be better as far as the simple things like getting personnel on and off the field and not having big plays called back due to penalties. We just have to play better all the way around.”