Montgomery High School’s football team snapped an 11-game losing streak dating back to November 2024 with Friday night’s 14-7 season-opening home win over crosstown rival Santa Rosa.

The Vikings’ last win also came against the Panthers, when they secured the rivalry series’ Ralph Fravel Trophy two seasons ago.

The Panthers grabbed the trophy right back last season. This long-running rivalry between the two oldest high schools in Santa Rosa is now a nonleague match after realignment moved Montgomery down to the Redwood Empire Conference’s Mountain division.

How it happened

Both Montgomery scores came through the air, but the bulk of the Vikings’ offensive production came from their rushing attack.

Senior running back Joe Laqere led Montgomery with 72 rushing yards.

Oliver Wuethrich, who took over at quarterback last season after Thor Boswell was injured, finished 4-for-6 for 57 yards.

Despite the loss, Santa Rosa gained more yards on offense, rushing for 191 yards and passing for 42.

The Panthers were led on offense by running back Andres Nandalapa, who had 111 rushing yards on 20 carries.

Montgomery took the lead on its opening drive that ended with a scrambling Wuethrich finding Chase Pierre in the end zone.

The Vikings missed the PAT but held the 6-0 lead into halftime.

The Panthers came out of the half with a lengthy 17-play scoring drive that lasted 11 minutes and 39 seconds — and ended when Nandalapa punched it in from eight yards out to give the visitors the lead at 7-6.

But Montgomery retook the lead with just over six minutes left in the fourth quarter on a 27-yard touchdown pass to Boswell, who now plays tight end, and made it 14-7 on a successful two-point conversion from William Jimenez.

After both teams traded turnovers on downs, Santa Rosa drove into Montgomery’s red zone but faced a fourth down at the 17-yard line in the closing seconds.

The Panthers’ final play of the game, a desperation pass attempt to the end zone, was caught but the receiver was ruled out of bounds. There was also a holding call on the final play, but Montgomery declined the penalty to end the game.

Key play

The Boswell touchdown catch ultimately decided this matchup. The throw was one of six pass attempts for Wuethrich.

It was a play-action pass that saw Boswell get open in the middle of the field behind the Panthers’ linebackers.

With one man to beat, Boswell sidestepped the defender and had about 10 yards of open field before reaching the end zone.

Quotable

“When Thor went down and Oliver stepped in, we knew he was a gamer. He can ball out when he wants to — getting last year’s reps, getting happy feet, learning the new offense and the system and all that. It’s always tough for a quarterback, but this year, with Thor rehabbing and Oliver getting all the reps, I looked at him and said, ‘Hey man, you’re the frickin’ dude. Even if Thor comes back, you’re the dude.’ And he showed up today.” — Montgomery head coach Anthony Bautista on Wuethrich.

“We kind of kept that in our back pocket and so having him perform like we knew he could, it’s fun to see.” — Bautista on Boswell at tight end.

“Everybody got in and everyone stepped up. One person cramped, then another person cramped, and so being able to come in and not drop off, it’s exciting — because with the talent that we have, it kind of shows we could be a good team this year if we continue to stay our course.” — Bautista

“They played great. They really did. We had a short roster this week. We had some injuries in the scrimmage. Guys stepped in and played out in position and did a great job. I thought we played very well on defense, and offensively we moved the ball, and we had a couple of those mistakes in there that killed us.” — Santa Rosa head coach Roy Keegan

Takeaways

Boswell looks to be an important piece on both sides of the ball for Montgomery.

The 6-foot-4 senior started at tight end and defensive end. He had a sack in the first half for the Vikings.

With Wuethrich getting the majority of reps throughout the offseason as Boswell recovered from injury, Bautista gave Wuethrich the nod as starting QB.

Boswell still gets quarterback reps at practice and serves as the backup.

Santa Rosa’s opening drive of the second half that nearly took the entire third quarter showed flashes of what the Panthers could be on offense — a team that controls the clock and wears down a defense.

That drive saw the Panthers use four different ball carriers, but Nandalapa got the majority of the rushes.

Nandalapa has proven to be a player to watch in the Santa Rosa backfield. In the final drive of the game, he was utilized in the Wildcat formation on multiple occasions and was able to move the chains, but holding penalties backed Santa Rosa out of run-play situations as the clock wound down.

The Montgomery defense came up big on key plays, including a fourth-down stop with 3:48 left in the game, and on the final play.

The Vikings had three sacks in the game.

Up next

Santa Rosa (0-1) plays in another longstanding rivalry this coming Friday at Petaluma as the two oldest high schools in Sonoma County face off.

The showdown dates to 1892, with the War Club trophy that is painted half orange and half purple serving as the prize for the winner.

The Vikings (1-0) will hit the road to play at Sonoma Valley that night.