Late push lifts Grace Brethren over Bishop

Bishop running back Jack Gregson runs through a large hole on his way to Bishop's first TD in the first quarter.

The stats suggested a Grace Brethren blowout, but Bishop Diego’s football team was tied with the Lancers through three quarters.

Then the defending Frontier League champions, led by their MVP quarterback Max Leffler, held onto the ball for nearly 10 minutes of the fourth quarter on a 17-play, 85-yard drive before breaking the 14-14 deadlock with 2:14 to go on Kendall Rettig’s second touchdown run of the night.

The Cardinals blocked the PAT kick to stay within six, 20-14, and launched one last drive for possible victory. But Leffler, playing defense in the Lancer secondary, picked off a Nolan Tisdale pass and returned it 50-plus yards down to the Bishop 22.

Three plays later he hit Jack Gilliland over the middle of the end zone for a 20-yard touchdown reception that sealed visiting Grace Brethren’s 27-14 win on Halloween night at La Playa Stadium.

Bishop Diego QB Nolan Tisdale sets up to pass.

The game was hyped up as a showdown for the Frontier League title. The Lancers are in position to repeat, moving to 5-3, 2-0 in league while Bishop falls to 4-4 and 2-1.

Cardinals head coach Tom Crawford wasn’t claiming any moral victories for keeping it close with the defending league champs, who beat Bishop (aligned then in the Tri-Valley League) by 36 points a year ago.

“We expected to win the game,” Crawford said. “Even until they put up that last score, our kids thought we’d win that game. We’re not taking any solace hanging close with them.”

Leffler, a 6-2, 210-pound senior, looked every bit the MVP, throwing for 146 yards on 13-24 passes and running for another 114 yards on 19 carries.

“Max Leffler– he carried the team on his shoulders for two quarters — the second and third,” noted Grace Brethren head coach Josh Henderson. “He was hurt (on the hand), he was beat up. But he came back out on defense and made that interception, and then came back with that TD pass.

“I’m really proud of Max. You have to have toughness. Throwing and running is pretty, but toughness is the name of the game.”

“He’s so fast, deceptively faster than most players we’ve seen at quarterback,” Crawford said of Leffler. “It was hard for us to adjust. There were times we thought we had him contained, and then he’s taking off getting another first down.”

Even though the Cardinals were outgained by a 413-190 yard margin, ran 35 less plays from scrimmage (75-40), and recorded 20 less first downs (27-7), they managed to stay close in large part due to four turnovers created on defense — interceptions by Jack Gregson, Andrew Saucier and freshman Gabe Molina, and a fumble recovery by Chris Helkey.

“They hung tough,”Crawford said of his defense. “We were on the field way too long defensively. We came up with some stops in terms of turnovers, but we didn’t convert on a couple of them.

“The effort was there but the execution on offense wasn’t. We just had no rhythm on offense.”

Henderson tried to hand the Cardinals a trick and that turned out to be a treat when he called for a fake field goal on 4th-and-5 at the Bishop 9 on the Lancers’ opening drive. The Cardinals defense held when Leffler had no place to go on a reverse and threw an incomplete pass.

But the Cardinals were forced to punt after three plays, and Grace Brethren capitalized on favorable field position to cover 58 yards in six plays, capped by Rettig’s touchdown run from 6 yards out with 3:30 remaining in the first quarter.

Bishop answered back right away when given good field position on Grace Brethren’s short kick-off. Aided by back-to-back Lancer off-sides penalties, the Cardinals tied it on Brandon Gonzalez’s 11-yard TD run with 10 seconds left in the first quarter.

The Lancers showed their ball control ability on their next possession, running off 13 plays before Garcia stepped in front of the intended receiver to pick off a Leffler pass deep in Bishop territory. But the Cardinals stalled at midfield and punted, pinning Grace Brethren on its own 11-yard line.

That’s where Rettig got hit for a loss and was stripped of the ball, which Helkey recovered at the 6. Gonzalez ran it in from the 3 two plays later for his second score, and with Mike Morando’s second PAT kick, Bishop had its only lead of the game, 14-7, at the 3:13 mark of the second quarter.

It was all Leffler on the Lancers’ next possession, as he ran the ball five times — all from shotgun– and completed passes for 26 yards to Micah McDowell and for 16 yards to Cameron Chup, before sneaking it in from the 1 with 30 seconds until halftime on the clock. McDowell’s PAT kick tied it at 14.

The third quarter was eventful but produced no scoring. Saucier was the recipient of the second Leffler interception to stop another deep Lancer drive, Gregson broke free on a pitch for Bishop’s longest gain of the night (40 yards), and Molina hauled in a long Leffler pass for the Cardinals’ third pick.

That carried the game into the fourth quarter when Grace Brethren amassed its time-sucking march that was culminated by Rettig’s 2-yard touchdown run that finally broke the tie.

Gonzalez provided the bulk of the Cardinals’ meager offense, gaining 43 yards on 13 carries and adding 66 on four Tisdale passes. Tisdale completed 7-16 for 92 yards with the one crippling interception by Leffler.

“Brandon ran tough every time he touched the ball,” said Crawford. “We didn’t block as well as we have in some games. But give (the Lancers) credit for stopping us on defense.”

With the win, Grace Brethren may have stopped the Cardinals’ league hopes in defense of its title.

GRACE BRETHREN 27, BISHOP DIEGO 14

Grace Brethren………………..7 7 0 13– 27
Bishop Diego………………….7 7 0 0– 14

FIRST QUARTER
GB– Rettig 6 run (McDowell kick), 3:30.
BD– Gonzalez 11 run (Morando kick), 0:10.

SECOND QUARTER
BD– Gonzalez 3 run (Morando kick), 3:13.
GB– Leffler 1 run (McDowell kick), 0:30.

FOURTH QUARTER
GB– Rettig 2 run (kick blocked), 2:14.
GB– Gilliland 20 pass from Leffler (McDowell kick), 1:15.

TEAM TOTALS                           GB  BD
First Downs………………………27 7
Rushes-Yards……………………51-267 24-98
Passing (Comp-Att-Int)………13-24-3 7-16-1
Passing Yards……………………146 92
Total Yards……………………….413 190
Fumbles-Lost……………………..2-1 1-0
Penalties-Yards…………………..9-50 4-10

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING– GB: Leffler 19-114, Rettig 15-64, Chup 4-40, Gilliland 5-30, Landseadel 6-17, Phillips 1-2, Porrazzo 1-0. BD: Gregson 4-55, Gonzalez 13-43, B.Garcia 2-0, Tisdale 5-0.

PASSING– GB: Leffler 13-24-3-146. BD: Tisdale 7-16-1-92.

RECEIVING– GB: Gilliland 5-71, McDowell 3-43. Chup 4-32, Wall 1-0. BD: Gonzalez 4-66, Moulton 1-11, Figueroa 1-10, P.Garcia 1-5.

RECORDS– GB 5-3, 2-0 Frontier, BD 4-4, 2-1.