Woodside rides Torres past Capuchino; improves to 4-0

“We got kind of bored with our near flawless performances to start the season off,” the typically humble Andrews said jokingly. “We needed to get a little razzle-dazzle in there today.”

The star of Woodside’s fourth straight lopsided win was two-way standout Daniel Torres. The senior enjoyed an epic showing on both sides of the ball, gaining 222 total yards with four touchdowns on offense, while nabbing two interceptions in just his second game at the cornerback position on defense.

What sparked Torres’ big night was a glaring negative, however, as the senior receiver took a reception from quarterback Charlie Dalrymple and barreled upfield, breaking tackle after tackle until he blasted into the red zone; but when he crossed the 10-yard line, Torres had the ball stripped, with Cap recovering.

“I didn’t want to talk about it,” Torres said. “but I’ve got to protect the football, got to help our team win. I feel like I responded in a great way and helped our team get up on a lead that we definitely needed, and helped us win.”

Mild mannered off the field, but notoriously emotional between the lines, Torres responded — big time.

“Honestly, we knew that Cap was going to challenge us,” Andrews said. “But we’ve got a real versatile thing that we’re doing over here. Any one of our skill positions can impact the game, and it’s just about trying to figure out what’s the defense trying to take away, and adjusting.”

The Torres redemption tour manifested in the form of back-to-back stunners to help send the Wildcats (4-0) into the locker room riding a wave of momentum. After Cap (1-3) was forced to punt, Woodside took over at its own 42 and used its first play to hand it to Torres, who bounced off tackle and strutted 58 yards for the score to make it 28-13.

Torres didn’t stop there, though, as on the Mustangs’ next play from scrimmage, the senior cornerback stepped in front of a Logan Arceo pass near the sideline for an interception to put the Wildcats back on the attack with 2:03 to play in the half.

Cap stifled the possession with an interception of its own, as Farrugia had an apparent 79-yard return for a pick-6, only to half it called back due to a penalty for an illegal block. The Mustangs took over at their own 30, but Woodside came up with yet another interception as, on first down, sophomore JJ Lange picked off an Arceo pass and returned it 34 yards for a pick-6 to send the Wildcats into the break leading 35-13.

The Wildcats set the tone early, taking over for their first possession with 7:12 to play in the opening quarter. Woodside picked up first downs on each of its first two plays — a 39-yard pass from Dalrymple to Torres, followed by a 12-yard carry by Evan Frampton. Three plays later, Dalrymple connected with Torres for a 14-yard scoring pass on a timing pattern off the right side to put the Wildcats ahead 7-0.

Cap fired right back, with Arceo airing it out to Farrugia for a 68-yard scoring strike up the right sideline to tie it 7-all. The Mustangs went on to complete each of their first nine passes.

“We stepped it up,” Cap head coach Jay Oca said. “A big reason why we passed a lot is because we saw the opportunities. You give us holes, we’re going to take them.”

Farrugia totaled five catches for 148 yards and two touchdowns in the game — all the while, the Woodside public address announcer was butchering the pronunciation of his name, a mispronunciation that consistently got under Farrugia’s skin.

“A little bit,” Farrugia said. “It definitely was. But we’ve just got to do our thing.”

Cap was missing its No. 1 running back Carmel Villarreal this week, after he was injured early in last week’s 27-24 loss to Terra Nova.

“We said we’ve just got to air it out,” Farrugia said. “We did that and it obviously worked. Woodside’s a good team. Best team probably in their division. But we tried our best, we aired it out. We did our thing.”

Following the hot start by the Air Mustangs, the Woodside defense started playing off Cap’s array of receivers. Arceo completed just four more passes in the game, and threw four interceptions.

With the Mustangs trailing 14-7 on the first possession of the second quarter, they nearly drew even when sophomore running back Siosi Kupu (12 carries, 39 yards) took a hook-and-ladder toss off an Arceo pass for a 24-yard score to make it 14-13. But Woodside senior Isaac Pech blocked the point-after try to keep the Wildcats ahead. Then on the ensuing kickoff, junior Grady Futado broke a 91-yard return to the end zone to boost the lead to 21-13.

“There’s a lot of angst after giving up touchdowns,” Andrews said. “And then it’s just super ... cathartic, I guess, where all that tension and anger kind of dissipates right away. It’s a really cool way to just get us back into it and get the good feeling back on the sideline.”

The second half was all Wildcats.

The special teams shined again when Lange scored his second dynamic TD of the game, a 51-yard punt return for the score midway through the third quarter. Woodside upped it to 48-21 on a 14-yard scoring catch by Torres with 41 seconds left in the third quarter. Cap answered with Farrugia (accent on the second syllable) breaking a 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown.

Prior to the Oct. 9 kickoff of Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division play, Woodside has one more non-league tuneup next week in hosting Santa Clara. Capuchino travels to Wilcox next week before kicking off PAL De Anza Division play Oct. 9 at Carlmont.