Cate’s 8-man football game with Calvary Baptist didn’t last very long Saturday afternoon. It was over at halftime, with Cate running all over a young, short-handed Calvary Baptist team 54-0.
It was so bad that both coaches agreed to just keep the clock running midway through the first quarter with the Rams quickly jumping out to a 35-0 lead after the Rams scored on five of their first six touches.
Coach Ben Soto played his reserves from there, trying to keep the score within reason. Even with some players getting their first taste of high school football — like freshman Jay Parks ( 22-yard scoring run, blocked punt) — the Rams kept going and scored on all possessions but one in the half.
Michael McMahon and Randy Person each had two rushing touchdowns and Max Sabel added another, all in the first quarter.
Sophomores Cormac O’Connor and Houston Bradley both hit paydirt. Houston’s score came on the defensive side of the ball as he ripped the ball from a receivers hands after a completion and took it in from 25 yards.
Cate knows what it is like to be on the other side of the mercy rule, having lost in their past two outings to Clarita Christian and Avalon by large margins. Cate now is 2-2 on the season with its Condor League opener set for this Saturday on the Mesa during Parents Weekend.
“I told our guys, next week is going to be a lot harder. (Laguna) always plays hard against us; we always play hard against them,” said Soto and he credited Owls coach Rob Robitaille for much of that. ” Hopefully we’ll start league with a 1-0 record.”
On next week’s game, Soto declared: “I think we call it the micro game. The Dons and Royals have the ‘Big Game’, the Warriors and Bishop have the ‘Little Big Game.’ We call this the ‘Micro Game’.
“It’s gonna be a good game.”
