Central Catholic falls to Placer in slugfest

The 1,500 or so fans at Friday's Central Catholic-Placer football game saw the rarest and most entertaining of second quarters, one in which 51 points were scored, with the teams rolling up 407 yards.

But that wasn't the only rarity in what became a 48-30 Placer victory at David Patton Field.

Placer's point total marked the highest scoring total by any visiting team since Oct. 11, 1991, when Ripon High put a 48-14 defeat on a Raiders' team on its way to a winless season.

Safe to say that the Central Catholic coaching staff wasn't very happy after that game, either.

"They've got a good team, but not that good," said Raiders coach Roger Canepa. "We didn't execute. We're better than that, which you could see when we got going. But we spotted them the lead. We started out bad. They're good, we're good. We have a good team, but when you play good football teams and make mistakes, they're gone."

And Central Catholic was good in that quarter, at least on offense.

The Raiders spotted the Hillmen (1-0) a 10-0 lead after one quarter before finding their stride behind senior running back Ray Lomas. He would finish with 222 rushing yards, with 165 on seven carries coming in the second quarter, including scoring runs of 78 and 40 yards.

But almost every time Central scored, Placer was able to answer. So when backup quarterback Donovin Townsend hit Nate Loya with a 46-yard touchdown pass, pulling the Raiders within 31-23 with 1 minute, 46 seconds, left in the half, there was hope on the home side.

"We just got on a roll and I felt we were going to come back," Lomas said.

Just as quickly, that hope faded, as Placer needed only a minute to move 60 yards to its fourth touchdown of the quarter to take a 38-23 halftime lead.

And when the Hillmen embarked on a 13-play (all rushes), 90-yard scoring march immediately after halftime, control of the game once again was theirs.

"We got within eight points and had the momentum and we couldn't stop them," Canepa said. "They scored right before the half, scored again to start the second half and that was it."

Placer didn't need to throw a pass in the second half to control the ball, choosing to stay in their very crisp Wing-T offense and running behind two-way USC-bound lineman Eddie Vanderdoes whenever possible.

The Hillmen version of the Wing-T is unlike most in this region. They break the huddle, sprint to the line, set and snap the ball within two or three seconds, leaving defenses no time to adjust to the power side of the formation.

"None of the Wing-T teams in this area are like that," Canepa said. "When Placer comes out, they're so fast that all you can do is stay in the base defense and hope you're in the right place. So we never got a good look and we didn't execute."

So how rare was this beating absorbed by Central Catholic?

Well, as the game progressed, a blue moon rose over the east end zone.