OJAI — For Bishop Diego, this was a winnable game that got away.
The Cardinals, snakebit by penalties and worn down in the second half by a punishing Nordhoff running game, dropped a tough 14-10 decision in a Tri-Valley League football game Friday night at Ojai Valley Community Stadium.
Nordhoff scored a touchdown and a safety in the fourth quarter to rally for the win and hand Bishop its sixth loss of the season.
The defeat was especially hard for the Cardinals to swallow. They were playing against an opponent they matched up with on the field, unlike the previous week when they were overmatched against the football factory of Oaks Christian.
“I was real pleased with how competitive our guys were, how they played tonight, how physical they were,” said Bishop coach Tom Crawford.
The Cardinals, however, were stymied on offense by penalties at key junctures on drives and on defense by the hard running of Nordhoff powerback Parker Johnsen.
Johnsen gained 82 yards on 17 carries, with 64 of those yards coming in the second half.
“We said when we went in (at halftime) we got to start pitching the ball and make their D-lineman run, because we know a lot of their guys are going both ways,” said Nordhoff coach Tony Henney about turning Johnsen loose in the second half.
Bishop was holding a 10-6 lead late in the third quarter when Nordhoff’s Sean Bettles intercepted a pass. The Rangers took over at their 45 and, behind the running of the 5-8, 178-pound Johnsen, moved the ball to Cardinals’ 12.On a third-and-one, Johnsen bolted through the defense for the go-ahead score early in the fourth quarter.
The point-after kick was blocked, leaving the Rangers with a 12-10 advantage with 9:29 left in the game.
Bishop suffered another blow on its next possession. After quarterback Anthony Martinez was sacked for a 16-yard loss on a third-and-three from the 32, the ball on the ensuing punt was snapped out of the end zone for a safety. That put Nordhoff ahead 14-10.
Johnsen continued to pound out yardage for the Rangers, moving them into field-goal position after the safety. But Jude Rhodes’ 36-yard attempt with 4:29 left sailed wide left, giving Bishop new life.
Martinez didn’t waste any time getting the Cardinals up the field. He hit Desmond Vanderfin on a 38-yard pass play to put the ball at the 47 and followed that with an 18-yarder to Shane McCarthy. Martinez then ran 10 yards to put Bishop on the Nordhoff 18 with a little more than two minutes left.
But the Cardinals’ offense sputtered on their next four plays and they gave the ball back to Nordhoff with 1:51 left. The Rangers, with the aid of a 15-yard Bishop penalty, would run out the clock.
Although Henney felt Bishop was tired in the second half, Crawford didn’t think fatigue wasn’t a factor.
“I don’t know if it’s so much of that,” he said. “We had several mistakes with penalties. We put ourselves offensively into some tough situations.”
Bishop was penalized 10 times for 82 yards.
The Cardinals were the aggressors in the first half. On their first possession, they rolled down the field. Martinez capped a 64-yard drive with an 8-yard scoring strike to Vanderfin. Sam Verhasselt’s PAT gave them a 7-0 lead.
Bishop was moving the ball on its next possession, but a penalty on a third-and-one from the Nordhoff 38 but a wrench into the drive.
Another Bishop penalty on the Rangers’ punt return moved the ball to midfield. The Cardinals’ defense came up with a pair of big plays before Nordhoff quarterback Drew Rodriguez burned them with a pass in the right flat to Logan Crow, who turned it into a 38-yard gain on a third-and-14. Rodriguez kept the drive alive with another third-down play, hitting Quinn Jenkins on an 11-yard pass to the 3.
Rodriguez scored the touchdown on a 1-yard run, but the Rangers missed the extra point.
RJ Escamilla set up Bishop’s second score of the game with an interception of a Rodriguez pass with 52 seconds left in the first half. Martinez passes of 18 yards to Vanderfin and 10 yards to Bruce Garcia moved the ball to the Nordhoff 24.
Verhasselt came on a kicked a 41-yard field goal on the last play of the first half to put the Cardinals ahead 10-6.
Bishop kept the momentumm going at the start of the second half as Vanderfin returned the kickoff 63 yards to the Nordhoff 34. But the Cardinals failed to capitalize and they turned the ball over on downs at the 28.
“I was most disappointed in our inability to convert points on the board after the second-half kickoff,” Crawford said. “That could have been a real momentum change, especially the way our defense was playing.”
Crawford said that despite the tough loss, there were some positive things to be taken from the game. He was pleased at how physical his team played.
“That, by far, was our most physical contest of the year, which showed the guys are still working hard,” he said.
NORDHOFF 14, BISHOP DIEGO 10
Bishop Diego…7300 — 10
Nordhoff…0608 — 14
SCORING
First quarter
BD — Gonzalez 11 pass from Martinez (Verhasselt kick), 5:30
Second quarter
N — D. Rodriguez 1 run (kick failed), 8:28
BD — FG, Verhasselt 41, :03
Fourth quarter
N — Johnsen 12 run (kick blocked), 9:29
N — Safety, ball snapped out of end zone, 7:19
Individual Statistics
Rushing—BD: Martinez 11-44, Escamilla 10-43, P Garcia 5-12, B. Garcia 3-6. N; Johnsen 17-82, Bettles 6-16, Burgess 4-3, D. Rodriguez 2 (minus 12).
Passing—BD: Martinez 14-26-1, 145 yards. N: Rodriguez 7-16-2, 121 yards. Bettles 0-1-0, 0 yards.
Receiving—BD: Vanderfin 8-82, A. Gonzalez 3-29, P. Garcia 1-8, Escamilla 1-10, B. Gonzalez 1-16. N: Jenkins 3-50, Crow 1-38, Bettles 2-9, Hardman 1-14
