Central Catholic stymies powerful St. Mary’s offense to win 'Holy Bowl'

If Dauson Booker ever grows tired of football, he has a second career as an acrobat awaiting him.

Booker sprinted, crawled, spun and lept his way to a game-high 152 rushing yards with a touchdown as the Central Catholic football team downed rival St. Mary’s 20-7 in the “Holy Bowl” on Friday night at the Rams’ Sanguinetti Field.

Booker flourished in the second half as the Raiders (2-0) wore down the defending section champion Rams (2-1) in the trenches, including turning a broken play into a 360-degree turnaround and a 16-yard run for a pivotal first down.

That was Central Catholic’s final scoring drive, and the one that buried St. Mary’s, as fullback Coleby Garrett plunged in for a 4-yard touchdown and a 13-point edge.

Booker, though, was without a trace of an ego as he smiled and took photos with teammates and friends postgame.

“It’s really not about me. It’s not about me at all,” Booker said. “I can’t do anything but thank my line. …They all worked.”

Booker learned he’d be able to play in the Holy Bowl earlier in the week. He initially received a one-game suspension from the Valley Oak League for a personal foul he committed in spearing an opposing player during a Week 0 rout of Archbishop Riordan.

Booker and the Raiders won the appeal to the VOL, and boy, did it pay off.

Still, the most astonishing, and unexpected storyline of the night was Central Catholic’s taming of St. Mary’s offense. The Raiders became the first team since national power De La Salle to hold St. Mary’s to single digits.

That was six years ago, as De La Salle shut out St. Mary’s in Stockton in September 2011.

Central Catholic forced five turnovers along the way, as Emilio Guajardo, Justin Traina and D’Angelo Bellamy nabbed interceptions and Miguel Olivo Jr. and Nathan Kim recovered fumbles.

Chris Mendoza sacked Rams senior quarterback Marcus Aponte, who lives in Salida, just north of Modesto, to end the first half. St. Mary’s was averaging 45 points per game entering Friday.

“We’ve turned the corner on being a tough, physical team, and being disciplined. …We’ve still got a good football team over here at Central,” said Raiders coach Roger Canepa, who joined in with his players, staff, cheerleaders and traveling fans in celebrating and fist pumping postgame. “The defense played excellent.”

The Rams’ lone touchdown was a 54-yard screen pass from Aponte to sophomore receiver Jamar Marshall, but besides that St. Mary’s mustered 193 yards of offense and could never develop a rhythm in the passing game.

Rams starting quarterback Noah May, a sophomore, is likely out for the season with a shoulder injury. Aponte, who played quarterback in Pop Warner but is being scouted by college programs as a wide receiver, is now 1-1 as St. Mary’s starter.

“First of all, give a lot of credit to Central Catholic for their effort tonight. I think they had a plan coming in, and I think they executed their plan very well,” Rams coach Tony Franks said. “Our defense did a nice job. …we had a short field.”

Garrett, listed at 5-foot-8, 185 pounds, was a masterful counterpunch to the agile Booker (6-1, 195).

The senior fullback had two touchdowns, and was greeted by chants of “bulldozer!” from the Raiders’ “Blue Crew” student section.

“It’s great,” Guajardo said of the Booker-Garrett duo. “We can run traps. We can run inside and outside all day. And it really helps everything else.”

Central Catholic’s returning players earned some extra satisfaction on Friday, after last season’s 49-0 loss to St. Mary’s in Modesto. That week and game were overshadowed by controversy, as the Raiders suspended several players for the first half of the contest for violating team rules.

So Friday night, on top of the usual bliss of winning a rivalry game and beating a defending NorCal champion, was cathartic for Central Catholic.

“It felt really good getting this off our chest,” Guajardo said. “We wanted to prove everybody wrong.”

This story was originally published September 9, 2017 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Central Catholic stymies powerful St. Mary’s offense to win 'Holy Bowl'."