Cate’s seventh-ranked football team had a 28-0 lead 13 minutes into Saturday’s home game against No. 3 Thacher.
“We just felt like we were unstoppable. We had all the momentum,” said quarterback Mackie Greason.
But in the wild world of 8-man football, the scoreboard can change quicker than Clark Kent in a phone booth.
The Toads scored 42 unanswered points en route to a 42-34 win in a showdown between the Condor League’s two elite teams.
“I don’t know what it was. We just went completely flat. I think we got too comfortable with that lead,” said Greason.
Cate quarterback Mackie Greason scrambles in the first half.
His counterpart, Thacher quarterback Austin Krause, fumbled twice in the first quarter, with both turnovers leading to Cate touchdowns. He would feel much better about things a couple of hours later, however, after throwing for a touchdown in the second quarter and scrambling 23 yards for the go-ahead score with 8:54 remaining in the game, which left things at 36-28.
“I knew we had the ability to come back. The seniors kept up the confidence and got the momentum back,” he said. “They were good, but we ended up proving we were the better team.”
Both teams will be in the playoffs, but Cate will likely have to travel for its first-round game while Thacher will almost certainly be at home.
Greason scored the game’s first touchdown less than two minutes in, sneaking it up the gut on fourth-and-inches only to break out of the pack for a 49-yard touchdown run. Ugo Nwasike sacked Krause for a loss on Thacher’s first play and the Toads were eventually forced to punt.
The Rams ran the ball relentlessy on their second drive, which culminated with Randy Person waltzing untouched into the end zone on a 3-yard run with 4:25 left in the first. One play later, Kevin Chou recovered a Krause fumble to give the ball right back to Cate. The Rams marched all the way down to the one-yard line, where Greason punched it in for the score. Cate faked the PAT and converted on a pass to Luke Shover to make it 22-0.
Krause fumbled again with 19 seconds left in the quarter, and Shover fell on it. Person broke through three tacklers and added a nice spin move on a 34-yard run up the sideline to open the second quarter, and bruising fullback Harry Gruner punched it in for the final yard. A bad snap foiled the PAT, but Cate was riding high up by four scores.
Cole Ryder scored the first of his four touchdowns on a 3-yard scamper with 9:22 to go in the half, and Krause tossed a pretty 44-yard touchdown pass to Will Waste four minutes later that made it 28-14. The Toads weren’t done, as they blocked a punt on Cate’s next possession and handed it to Ryder for a four-yard scoring run with 3:30 remaining. The conversion failed, and the teams went into the break with Cate up 28-20.
Greason was picked off on Cate’s first possession of the second half, and Ryder responded with a 71-yard touchdown run up the sideline, with a failed conversion leaving the Rams up 28-26.
Amidst all the scoring was a crucial special teams play with 11 minutes left in the fourth. Thacher punted from midfield and was able to down the ball inside the Cate one-yard line. On the very next play, Person was dropped in the end zone for a safety that tied the game. Krause then scored the go-ahead touchdown and the Toads got one more score out of Ryder to go up 42-28.
Greason’s 24-yard touchdown pass to Person with 2:09 left was enough to get the crowd energized, but not enough to get Cate back in the game as the ensuing onside kick attempt failed.
Greason was able to shed a positive light on the gut-wrenching loss.
“I definitely think we can learn from this. It’s the first time we’ve been really challenged all season, and it’s going to motivate us to work even harder for the next one,” he said.
