Although the Monticello Empire League was restructured for the 2024 season, Will C. Wood High School still made a point of adding its old rival Fairfield to the schedule.
However, if the Wildcats never see Tre’von Moten again, they won’t care.
Moten had two interceptions on defense and ran wild on offense, rushing for 185 yards on 15 carries and three touchdowns in Fairfield’s 26-14 victory in both teams’ season opener. All three of his touchdowns were at least 32 yards, with his longest – a 74-yard run – clinching the game with less than a minute left in the game.
The game was the first at Will C. Wood for new head coach Cha’pelle Brown, who took over after Jacob Wright died of a heart attack last year.
After Friday’s loss, Brown paid tribute to Fairfield.
“That’s football. If you don’t tackle and the other team forces more turnovers than you do, that team usually wins the game,” Brown said. “It wasn’t complicated. The more our team plays, the more they’ll realize and understand that the little things matter. But you have to give the other team credit because they worked their asses off and played to the end, and we didn’t. We fought to the end, but we didn’t follow through.”
“This game will allow us to get better for the next one and that’s what it’s all about.”
Wood had to do without the services of returning quarterback Kimani Dokes, who is currently ineligible to play, according to the Wildcats’ coaches.
“He has to take care of some business, that’s what he has to do,” Brown said.
Dokes was replaced by Kandon Olivera, who threw a 16-yard touchdown to Lacorey Collins in the first quarter, giving Wood a 7-6 lead.
Olivera completed 12 of 22 passes for 171 yards and two touchdowns, but was intercepted three times.
“I thought he was great. We can’t apologize,” Brown said. “Everybody has to do their job, and you know what? We all have to work things out. I thought he came in here and did a damn good job for the circumstances we put him in.”
Wood took a 13-7 lead with 8:19 left in the second quarter when Moten ran 60 yards for a touchdown after Jaiden Lewis-Chandler had scored the first touchdown with a one-yard run.
With 4:35 left in the third quarter, Moten gave Fairfield some breathing room when he ran 32 yards for his second touchdown, making the score 20-7.
Fairfield looked poised to win the game with a three-point lead in the fourth quarter, but Gavin Kruszka forced a fumble on Lewis-Chandler at the goal line. Two plays later, Olivera found Collins more open than a 7-Eleven, hit the wideout and caught the ball in the flat field for a 91-yard touchdown. Collins finished the game with four catches for 126 yards.
Kruszka was back in the game on the next defensive series, intercepting a pass from Falcons’ Tristen Smith to give the Wildcats a chance to take the lead with just under seven minutes left.
“I just ran out and the ball came loose and I just took it,” Kruszka said. “I knew we needed to win the ball there, so I just took it.”
Kruszka said the wide receiver he was defending was doing a “stop and go,” so he followed him and “tricked the quarterback into throwing the ball.”
Kruszka said he enjoyed playing for Brown, but still thinks about his former coach Wright.
“I think about Coach Wright 100 percent all the time,” Kruszka said. “He’s one of the reasons I play. I think about how much he put into the game and always told us to act like we love it.”
Wood had a chance to take the lead with about a minute left, but Olivera’s fourth-down pass sailed out of bounds, largely due to tight coverage by Fairfield defensive back Izel Jackson. Davion Johnson and Janaun White also recorded key sacks for the Falcons on the drive.
Wood should have intercepted the ball and forced a turnover, but instead Moten ran the ball 74 yards for a touchdown that was a stab in the back for the Wildcats.
“We just have to learn and prepare for the next game, but we also have to fight when we play,” Kruszka said.
Wood plays at home next week against American Canyon in the Wolves’ season opener. The game is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m. Fairfield plays at Rodriguez.
