Isaiah Washington dashes towards the end zone for the winning touchdown on Saturday. (Presidio Sports Photos)
A twenty-four point lead wasn’t safe for Cate’s 8-man football team on Saturday as Laguna Blanca made the Rams play all 40 minutes in a 58-52 Condor League game.
Cate held leads of 28-6, 36-12 and 42-20 in the first half, but the Owls rallied time and time again. With less than five minutes remaining in the fourth quarter, Laguna’s Stephen McCaffery ran 11 yards to the end zone for his fourth rushing touchdown of the game to make the score 50-44.
Cate then drove 65 yards on its next drive and capped it off with a 29-yard pitch to Isaiah Washington who found a hole and made a clean break to the end zone. A successful 2-point conversion by Dean Smith pushed Cate’s lead to 58-44 with only 1:14 left on the clock.
Needing a miracle, Robert Estrada kept the Owls on life support by returning the following kick-off 70 yards for his first touchdown of the game. The Owls failed to execute a last-gasp onsides kick and Cate was able to kneel and run the clock out.
“Of all the football games we’ve played this year, I was by far the most proud of our team after this game,” said Owls head coach Shane Lopes.
“They didn’t worry about the scoreboard, they just took it one play at a time and I couldn’t be more proud of our players.”
Washington recorded four rushing touchdowns for Cate on offense and had an interception on defense. Smith rushed for a touchdown and threw a TD completion to Kian O’Donnell, who also rushed for one score.
Smith took a majority of the snaps at quarterback for the second-straight week for the injury-depleted Rams. Cate was missing a handful of regulars.
“We got every reason to say we’re banged up and all that stuff but our kids found a way to battle and get it done,” said Rams head coach Ben Soto.
Cate’s Dean Smith attempts a pass over Laguna Blanca’s Pierce O’Donnell to receiver Isaiah Washington.
Smith picked up two important first downs on Cate’s final drive with runs of seven and 12 yards.
“It definitely got a little exciting but I’m really just proud and happy for the guys for pulling through,” Smith said. “It wasn’t the prettiest win but we got it done. We’ve been dealing with injuries all year and everyone’s coming back strong.
“We’ve been bending but we haven’t been broke yet.”
McCaffery accounted for every other Laguna touchdown before Estrada’s long kick return. The senior rushed for four touchdowns and completed scoring passes to Pierce O’Donnell (15 yards) and Ryan Bickett (51 yards).
“He exemplifies the fact that a quarterback is so much more than throwing the football,” Lopes said. “The qualities of being a quarterback include being a leader, being a field general, having composure, being confident, being able to make other guys around him better. And he has all those qualities.”
Laguna Blanca’s Stephen McCaffery gets a pass off with Cate’s pass rush in pursuit.
Cate improves to 5-2, 2-1, while Laguna Blanca falls to 5-2, 1-2. Both teams have their regular-season finale next week before CIF begins the following week. Cate will clinch second place and an automatic playoff berth with a win against Villanova. Laguna Blanca plays No. 1 Thacher and will seek an at-large CIF bid having already clinched a winning season.
