In an ugly game that had more penalties and turnovers than completions and first downs, Mackie Greason connected with Luke Shover on a beautiful 29-yard touchdown pass with 27 seconds remaining to help give Cate a dramatic 30-22 victory over visiting High Desert Christian Acadamy on Saturday.
The last-minute win makes Cate 3-0, but the Rams needed to come-from-behind twice against the Firefox.
“We scored when we had to,” said Rams head coach Ben Soto, relieved to remain unbeaten on the year. “We had too many fumbles again but we’re going to work on it. I think we’re pretty young and we’re gonna get better next week for Cornerstone.
“They’re going to be sore tomorrow but they’re going to feel good being 3-0.”
Shover’s winning touchdown reception wasn’t his only big play of the final quarter. Cate had High Desert backed up against its own goal line when its quarterback picked up a bad snap in the back of the endzone and tried to scramble clear of danger.
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Shover was the first Ram to chase him down, knocking him out of bounds just before he could get back across the goal line. The saftey tied the score at 22-22 with less than five minutes remaining.
Cate fumbled on its free possession but the Firefox couldn’t advance the ball past Cate’s 34-yard line. Kevin Chow made a tackle on a 4th-down-and-12 play to give the Rams the ball back with two minutes left, setting up the winning throw. Randy Person, who had two rushing touchdowns in the game, ran in the two-point conversion for an eight-point lead.
“Luke Shover did one hell of a job of leading us,” Soto said,
According to Shover, he had the easy part.
“I can’t take any credit, it came from my quarterback and my line did a great job giving him time,” explained Shover, who also plays on special teams.
Greason, who threw for the one touchdown, also recorded a 28-yard scoring run for the Rams’ first touchdown. Person rushed for his two scores in the third quarter when Cate turned a 14-6 halftime deficit into a 20-14 lead.
CATE 30, HIGH DESERT CHRISTIAN ACADEMY 22
HDCA 8 6 8 0 – 22
Cate 6 0 14 10 – 30
