Vacaville and Vanden football teams win season openers – Times Herald Online

Area powerhouses Vacaville and Vanden high schools each earned victories in their season-opening football games Friday night.

Vacaville held on against visiting Escalon and won 23-21 behind 126 rushing yards from Tanner Boyd.

Vacaville quarterback Jimmy Macniven completed nine of 15 passes for 154 yards and two touchdowns. Jaden Beamon-Santos caught one of those passes, while Elijah Cline caught the other touchdown reception. Cline caught four passes for 59 yards.

Noah Wilcox played well on defense with 19 total tackles, six of them solo. Matthew Parks had 10 total tackles, three of them solo.

Vacaville, which failed to win the Monticello Empire League for the first time in seven years last season, plays at Granite Bay next Friday.

Meanwhile, last year’s MEL champion Vanden defeated host Cosumnes Oaks 35-19. Vanden led 14-6 in the first half and then gained some ground with three touchdowns in the third quarter.

Returning star quarterback Kalani Mcleod had 255 passing yards and three touchdowns in the first game of his senior year.

McLeod’s favorite target was Caleb Jones, who caught two touchdowns and had 115 yards. McLeod’s other touchdown pass was caught by Logan Bailey, who had five receptions for 84 yards.

The Vikings’ ground game was led by Zack Tayeh, who had eight carries for 38 yards.

Jamarion Grace led Vanden on defense, scoring twice and intercepting a pass.

Vacaville Christian, which plays in the Sierra Delta League, won its season opener 23-7 against Foresthill. The Falcons will play at home next week against Maxwell. Statistics were not available for Vacaville Christian at the time of publication.