Coronado freshman QB plays like senior in victory over Foothill — PHOTOS

Coronado’s Beau Ventling made his first varsity start at quarterback on Friday night in a key game at Foothill.

He looked more like a seasoned veteran than the freshman he is.

Ventling completed 19 of 24 passes for 197 yards and three touchdowns and helped the sixth-ranked Cougars to a 34-27 road win over the ninth-ranked Falcons.

“It feels really good,” Ventling said. “I had to learn everything basically this week, and I’m ready. I came out ready. I knew how much it meant to my teammates.”

Ventling entered the season No. 4 on the depth chart at quarterback, but injuries thrust him into the starting role. He stayed composed throughout, making good decisions and throwing accurate passes. He completed balls to six receivers.

“He’s a pretty cool cat,” Coronado coach Shawn Dupris said. “He didn’t falter all week, understood what we wanted to do and took care of the football.

“Even the interception he threw wasn’t a horrible read. And to have a freshman step in and lead the offense is pretty amazing.”

Even with the strong play of Ventling and senior running back Matthias Rantissi, the Cougars (5-1, 2-0 Division I East League) found themselves trailing Foothill (3-3, 1-2) for much of the game. But Coronado finally took the lead for good when Ventling hooked up with Tristan Grau for a 22-yard TD pass with 11:22 left that made it 27-20.

Ventling looked left on the play, then threw the screen pass to Grau on the right side, and the junior receiver was able to pick his way down the right sideline for the score.

“We talk about four quarters,” Dupris said. “Games are long, and a lot of things happen. It’s a physical football game, and we believe in ourselves and what we can do. We just want to get four quarters.”

Once they had the lead, the Cougars were able to lean on Rantissi, who had 25 carries for 164 yards and two touchdowns. His 14-yard TD run with 5:47 left pushed the lead to 34-20 and gave Coronado some much-needed cushion.

“Rantissi definitely has a chip on his shoulder,” Dupris said. “He broke his ankle the first game last year. He’s running hard, he plays hard and he’s the guy that we knew he is. He just needed games to show it.”

Rantissi kept his legs churning all night, picking up yards after contact and refusing to be brought down in the backfield. He was stopped for no gain twice, but picked up positive yards on his other 23 carries.

“I’ve just got my motor, you know,” Rantissi said. “I just like to push through, punish them as my coaches would say. Punish the defense.”

Foothill made things interesting, driving 74 yards after Coronado’s last score, capped by a 4-yard TD pass from Ryder Dobbs to Owen Preslan-Aldridge that made it 34-27 with 2:52 to play. The key play came when Nixon Gasperosky made a leaping catch over a Coronado defender for a 37-yard gain that moved the ball to the Coronado 7-yard line.

But Coronado was able to recover the onside kick, and Rantissi picked up 44 yards on five carries on the final drive as the Cougars ran out the clock.

Jace Bingham had three sacks, and Kingston Buffington intercepted a pass for Coronado.

Gasperosky had six catches for 195 yards and two touchdowns, and Dobbs completed 20 of 29 passes for 321 yards and three TDs. Gasperosky also intercepted a pass and recovered a fumble on defense.