Petersburg High School

To say the light came on for the Petersburg Buffaloes in 2008 would be a bit of an understatement. The light, at times, was blinding as the Buffaloes claimed an unbeaten district championship, made the state playoffs and forged a 9-2 record. That’s more than twice as many victories as coach Joseph O’Malley realized in his first two seasons, and now he wants more. “The taste of a little success in ’08 will have us hungry in ’09,” said O’Malley.

A big part of Petersburg’s success a year ago was a confidence-building 35-34 season-opening win over Silverton. The Buffs started to roll after that, picking off Amherst (47-0), Lorenzo (42-8), New Home (77-48) and Wellman-Union (61-14) prior to the team’s lone regular-season hiccup, a home loss to Ropes (72-28). Petersburg didn’t dwell on the loss, however, and posted a 36-34 victory over Kress to start district. They followed that with easy wins over Hart (49-0), Whitharral (64-6) and Whiteface (94-46), sending the Buffs into the post-season to face Meadow. Petersburg lost, 47-20, although it was some consolation that Meadow went on to knock off Valley the next week before losing to eventual state finalist Follett.

The trick for the Buffs now will be to sustain their success and even build on it, and O’Malley thinks that’s entirely possible. “We return the core of our team with some up-and-coming players,” said O’Malley, who is 13-18 at Petersburg and 54-44 in eight seasons overall. “The ’09 season should be promising.”

Six players on last year’s squad won’t be back this season, including half of the team’s starters as the Buffs begin with eight veterans. While Petersburg will need to find players to carry the running load after most of the players responsible for the 2008 team’s 2,500 rushing yards graduated. The Buffs’ passing attack is in good shape with the return of junior quarterback Blake Smith and junior end Kearby Garza. Last season in Petersburg’s unbalanced-I and spread offenses, Smith (5-8, 150, 4.7) completed a remarkable 63 percent (54-of-86) of his passes for 1,200 yards with 22 touchdowns and just three interceptions. Garza (6-0, 205, 5.0) was on the receiving end of 33 passes for 1,000 yards and 17 TDs. Smith and Garza both earned post-season honors, as did sophomore running back/linebacker Domonic Pennington (5-8, 165).

Other Buffaloes who O’Malley feels will play major roles are junior running back/defensive lineman Armando Banuelos (5-8, 175) and sophomore quarterback/defensive back Joseph Cedillo (5-5, 144), while the coach is expecting a lot out of Thomas Roden, who heads up the list of O’Malley’s promising newcomers. Much of the dirty work in the trenches will be handled by the team’s seniors, including Cris Cruz (5-2, 205), Sam Alford (5-9, 197) and Nick Campos (5-5, 173). Other seniors are running backs Leroy Luna (5-5, 140) and Miguel Vallin (5-4, 112.)

Petersburg opens the season with home games against Silverton on Aug. 28 then Amherst. Then it’s at Lorenzo and New Home, and home against Wellman-Union before a chance to avenge one of last season’s two losses on the road against Ropes. District starts at home against Kress before a trip to Hart, the team O’Malley thinks will give his Buffs the toughest run for their money in district. Then it’s home against Whitharral and an open week before another tough challenge to round out the regular-season in Whiteface.