High-flying offense leads Honkers over Warriors

The Honkers offensive weapons came out in full force Friday against Winters High.

Justin Fortunato passed for 182 yards and four touchdowns and Drake Matteson rushed for 145 yards and one touchdown to lead Willows High to a 48-29 road victory.

A week after passing for just 26 yards in a run-heavy game against Gridley, Fortunato completed 9-of-18 passes while connecting with four different receivers.

Alex Alves was his favorite target with four catches for 118 yards and two touchdowns. Ryan Welsh and Casey Taylor each caught touchdown passes from Fortunato.

Steven Johnson was the Honkers second leading rusher with 32 yards on five carries, and Ulises Esparza made the most of his one carry when he scored from 1 yard out.

Winters had little trouble moving the ball, rushing for 265 yards and throwing for another 96, but the Honkers defense forced five turnovers, including a 35-yard interception return from Eduarto Briones for a touchdown. Briones led Willows with 10 tackles and also recovered a fumble.

Matteson was active on the defensive side of the ball as well. He hauled in one interception and made five tackles. Alves was in on eight tackles and recovered a fumble, and Taylor scooped up a fumble on defense.

Jacob Candelaria brought down the ballcarrier nine times and Trevor Candelaria sacked Winters quarterback Nick Mariani once and made five tackles.

Willows (3-0) will face its toughest challenge of the season Friday when it travels to Orland (3-0) to play the Trojans in the Battle for the Axe. Orland beat Corning 30-6 last week.