2-A BIG GAME : Ramona Surprises Crawford

It could have been dismissed as sandbagging. Before Friday night’s San Diego Section playoff game, Crawford Coach Dan Armstrong wanted to convince his audience that he was awestruck by his opening-round opponent, Ramona.

That’s right Ramona, the Avocado League’s fourth-place team that got to the playoffs with a 6-4 record and without so much as knocking off a top-10 team.

“After the pairing meeting, I heard a couple coaches saying, ‘Ramona is going to pump Crawford,’ ” said Armstrong.

Pump? How about stifle, or maybe squelch?

That’s right, not much was heard of the Central champs as Ramona took a 17-3 victory to move into the quarterfinals against Mission Bay next Saturday.

Seems the only one who actually thought Armstrong was sandbagging was Mel Galli, Ramona coach.

“This is unbelievable,” Galli said. “A fourth place team beating a champion!”

Well, it happened.

In the first half, Ramona held Crawford to 31 total yards. What’s more, the Colts did not score until the gun sounded to end the half and J.J. Wadas’ 37-yard field goal sailed through the goal posts.

It was 7-3 at that point, a score which fails to show how dominant the Bulldogs actually were.

The Colts could not carry, pass or kick the ball past midfield until two minutes remained in the half--a statistic which begs another question.

If Ramona had the ball in Crawford’s defensive half of the field for virtually the entire first two quarters (and it did, starting drives at the 39 twice, the 32 and 46), then why did it find the end zone only once?

Penalties, two turnovers, and inspired play by the heavily outweighed Crawford defensive line provided the answer to that querie.

Perhaps the most dramatic defensive play turned in by Crawford was Peter Irvin’s interception at the four on a first-and-goal play from the eight.

Even on Ramona’s scoring drive, the Bulldogs looked as though they might come up short, despite moving to a first-and-goal at the one in five plays.

A holding penalty negated a would-be Thomas Smith touchdown run, but on the very next play Lamont Horton was called for pass interference, giving the Bulldogs a new first-and-goal at the five.

Smith picked up four on the first play. Maybe Galli didn’t take note, but Smith’s number was not called again until fourth-and-one. He got in.

Ramona came out for the second half as if it had just finished warming up while Crawford showed up looking like it had just emerged from a double-overtime struggle.