BENICIA RECEIVER Kyani McFall hauls in a 23-yard TD pass against Maria Carrillo.

By the time Benicia High’s varsity football team figured out how to stop Maria Carrillo receiver Seth Vernon, the damage had been done.

Vernon caught three touchdown passes in the first 29 minutes and had 153 receiving yards in the first half alone to lead the Maria Carrillo Pumas past the Panthers, 28-14, Friday night in Santa Rosa.

“He was a difference-maker,” Benicia head coach Craig Holden said of Vernon, who caught TD passes of 32, 80 and 11 yards. “He’s a good ball player and he went up and got the ball. He had some speed and some size and their quarterback was putting it in a good spot for him.”

The first half was a personal battle between Vernon and Benicia’s Matthew Larks, who took the game’s opening kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown. It was the second kick return for a touchdown in three games for Larks, who also led Benicia with five receptions Friday.

“I like to start the game off with a bang,” Larks said. “I want to give my team a spark so we’ll come out more energized.”

But Larks, who was lined up at cornerback and stands only 5-foot-10, was no match for Vernon, a 6-5 senior with tremendous speed. Maria Carrillo quarterback Jake Wolski lofted a perfect pass to Vernon in the end zone, and Vernon out-jumped Larks for a 32-yard TD that tied the game less than five minutes in.

“Matt’s kickoff return was a big play for us, but unfortunately we couldn’t capitalize on it,” Holden said. “(Maria Carrillo) marched right down the field and scored and got the momentum back.”

Running back Ryan LaCroix capped a seven-play, 41-yard drive with a 11-yard touchdown run, bowling over two Panther defenders to give the Pumas a 14-7 lead late in the first quarter. Vernon made it 21-7 when he got behind Larks for an 80-yard touchdown reception on the first play of the second quarter.

“He was a pretty decent athlete, but honestly I think a lot of those were me just misjudging the ball,” Larks said. “I jumped too early a couple times when I should have just waited. I thought I was gonna get an interception on one of them but didn’t get it.”

Maria Carrillo (1-2) opened the second half with a 10-play, 73-yard drive ending in Vernon catching another TD pass on a slant to make it 28-7.

Benicia’s offense was going nowhere, managing only 57 yards and two first downs in the opening half. The Panthers finally got things going late in the third quarter when Devin Holden found Kyani McFall for a 23-yard scoring strike to make it 28-14, but Benicia could pull no closer. Ray Sterci intercepted Holden at the Puma 39-yard line with 6:14 remaining and Benicia turned the ball over on downs at the Puma 27 with 1:31 left.

Wolski threw for 254 yards, with 228 of those yards coming in the first half. Maria Carrillo also rushed for 212 yards, with workhorse Spencer Netherda rushing for 104 yards on 23 carries.

“We have some things we need to shore up,” coach Holden said. “We need to do a better job catching the ball. Unfortunately we thought we had that worked out in practice but apparently not so much. We’ll have to go back to the drawing board.”

Benicia (1-2) plays at winless Armijo this coming Friday.

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