Central Catholic starts slow, finishes fast against Beyer

Beyer can say that for a few minutes it held the lead against one of the best high school football teams in the state.

But in the end on Friday night, Central Catholic had too much for the Patriots, rolling to a 52-6 victory.

Jay Green, Beyer’s all-time leading rusher who entered the game with a Stanislaus District-leading 500 yards, broke off a 45-yard touchdown run around the left side to give his team a 6-0 lead over the defending state Division IV champions.

But the Raiders, behind a stout defense and the running of Montell Bland, scored the game’s final 52 points.

Bland rushed for 96 yards and three first-half touchdowns and quarterback Hunter Petlansky threw for two more touchdowns as the Raiders were able to rest their first-string for much of the second half.

Central Catholic entered intermission with a 30-6 lead.

Down 6-0 with five minutes left in the first quarter, Petlansky hit Ryan Vierra on a 15-yard scoring strike to tie the game. Bland added a 4-yard TD run and the Raiders added a safety for a 16-6 first-quarter lead.

In the second quarter, Bland had touchdown runs of 7 and 30 yards.

The Patriots close out a tough non-league season at 1-3 and will take on high-scoring Downey next week. The Knights fell to Lincoln 34-29 on Friday to fall to 3-1 although they’re averaging 44 points a game.

Meanwhile, Central Catholic on Friday plays host to Weston Ranch, which beat Grace Davis 52-0 and has outscored its opponents 120-6.

This story was originally published September 18, 2015 at 11:07 PM with the headline "Central Catholic starts slow, finishes fast against Beyer."