Vacaville’s Mason powers Bulldogs to first-round win
VACAVILLE — Melvin Mason was overheard on his own sideline saying, “My body’s aching right now.”
It’s not like he didn’t earn it.
Mason had four touchdowns and 353 yards in No. 4 Vacaville High’s 54-34 win in Thursday’s Sac-Joaquin Section Division II playoff contest over 13th-ranked visitor Roseville (5-6).
Bulldogs head coach Mike Papadopoulos believed Mason’s yardage could be the single-game record for Vacaville (10-1).
“Melvin had a career night,” he said. “It was fun to watch it. . . . A lot of it came on second and third efforts. It was a great night for him.”
Mason wasted no time putting points on the board with his first TD coming on Vacaville’s first play from scrimmage, an 83-yard sprint along his own sideline featuring a juke at the end to leave a Roseville defender in his wake.
Later in the first, with the Bulldogs ahead 13-6, Mason exploded through the secondary on his way to a 45-yard touchdown tote to give his team a 19-6 edge.
Trailing 27-21 to start the second half, a fumble gave Roseville possession. The Tigers capitalized and took a quick-lived 28-27 lead, the only time Roseville held the advantage.
“It felt like we put ourselves in that position,” Papadopoulos said. “But I thought our offense had a good night minus the miscues.”
Down by 1, Vacaville moved the chains 73 yards in just more than a minute, capping the drive with Mason’s entertaining 30-yard run. As he neared the end zone, the Bulldogs senior high-stepped in order to evade diving Tigers defenders and regain the lead for Vacaville.
The Bulldogs never trailed again.
After a quick four-and-out by Roseville, Vacaville went 83 yards in four plays. Curtis Goins punched it in from 1 yard out after Mason kicked out of a would-be tackle and gave quarterback Colemen Christensen his longest pass of the night, a 42-yarder.
Mason’s last touchdown came with a little more than three minutes remaining, a 43-yard dash down the Vacaville sideline to set up the final score for either team.
Mason’s efforts overshadowed Goins, who had touchdown runs of 86, 3 and 1 yards as part of his own 142 yards.
Jacob Te’o had the Bulldogs other TD score, a 65-yard sprint in which he juked two Roseville defenders who might have brought him down near the end of the run.
Seeing early in the first quarter that Vacaville was effective at stopping the run, Roseville relied largely on the passing game and the legs of senior running back Casey Lambert, who had 164 yards, a 4-yard rushing TD and a 16-yard touchdown catch. Roseville Quarterback Zac Cunha passed 251 yards for two touchdown passes.
The contest was the first-ever meeting between the two schools, which have been open for a combined 215 years.
Vacaville will host the winner of tonight’s contest between No. 5 St. Mary’s of Stockton (8-2) and No. 12 Antelope (6-4).
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Posted by Nick DeCicco
on Nov 10 2011.
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