Rice powers Central Catholic past Manteca

Patient and motivated, fast and physical. Justin Rice wasn’t half bad, either.

The top-ranked Central Catholic football team put together a quintessential performance on Friday evening, wearing down No. 3 Manteca with heavy doses of its defense and star running back in a resounding 28-6 victory at Guss Schmiedt Field.

Rice rushed for a season-high 280 yards and three touchdowns, and the defense – led by its hard-hitting linebackers – held Manteca (6-1, 3-1 Valley Oak League) to a season-low six points.

With a postseason invitation to the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III tournament hanging in the balance, the Raiders (7-0, 4-0) found another gear against a four-time section champion.

“This was one of the biggest games of the year,” Rice said. “We came into this game knowing this would set us up for the VOL championship and D-III playoffs. It was a must-win for us … to get us going.”

For the second straight year, Rice proved to be the one player Manteca simply could not solve.

After all, it was Rice — then an unheralded junior running back — that blitzed Manteca for four touchdowns and the game-winning two-point conversion in a 29-28 overtime victory last fall in the Raiders’ Valley Oak League debut.

Rice wouldn’t slow down — not until he had bagged a 2,000-yard season, The Bee’s All-District Player of the Year award and a scholarship offer to Fresno State.

He’s been slowed this season with an ankle injury sustained during a 49-0 victory over Atwater on Sept. 4. Turns out, he was saving himself for a night like Friday.

Rice racked up 187 yards in the second half as the Raiders wore down Manteca’s much-ballyhooed defense. The Buffaloes’ starting unit had given up just one touchdown in six games, but couldn’t match the strength of the Raiders’ offensive line or the speed of Rice.

On the game-clinching drive in the fourth quarter, Rice bounced between tackles on a 50-yard run. Two plays later, he charged up the middle for a 33-yard touchdown.

He burst through the line and finished even faster through the end zone, a statement to anyone watching: Even after 20-plus carries, he still had plenty left in the tank.

“I knew that everyone was wearing down,” Rice said. “I just wanted to be there for my teammates. ‘Let’s go, let’s go.’ I tried to keep up the pace, keep my teammates up and keep grinding through the game.”

Rice scored on runs of 15 and 4 yards in the first half as Central Catholic built a 14-6 lead.

The Raiders stretched their lead to 21-6 on their first possession of the second half. Hunter Petlansky raced into the end zone on a three-yard bootleg after a 30-yard punt return by Jared Rice gave Central Catholic a short field.

Short fields or long, Justin Rice or Jared, it mattered little in the end.

Central Catholic cemented its place atop The Bee’s large-school rankings with yet another impressive win on the road. The Raiders surged past St. Mary’s 36-22 in the Holy Bowl earlier in the season.

Raiders coach Roger Canepa tried his best to contain the excitement. After 22 seasons, he knows the drill: the Raiders won a Week 7 football game – not a championship.

“It’s another win. We have to come back next week and keep playing,” Canepa said. “It just shows when we work hard, in the fourth quarter those 2- and 3-yarders became big plays. I’m proud of our football team.

“That’s a great program, they have a great staff. We won tonight, but they’ll (Manteca) be around. They’re a good program. We’ll take it as one win. We haven’t won a championship or anything like that. We’ve taken care of business seven straight weeks and that’s all we’ve done.”

Oh, but it meant a little more to the defensive personnel.

In the postgame huddle, defensive coordinator Billy Hylla emerged with a bag full of honorary practice jerseys and a mile-wide smile.

He awarded the black jerseys to linebackers Austin Escobar, Montell Bland and Kekupa’a Freehauf, as well as injured safety Josh Frowein (knee).

Hylla said the players earned the jerseys with their play under the Friday night lights and their leadership throughout the week.

The black jerseys bear the words “desire,” “discipline,” and “dedication.” Freehauf said those three Ds frame the mentality of a unit that has allowed just 29 points in four league games.

Manteca managed just three first downs in the second half and finished the game with backup Gino Campiotti under center.

Starter Dakarai Charles spent most of the night on the run, avoiding the Raider rush. He left the field nursing his right shoulder on the first play of the second half. He was knocked from the game for good early in the fourth quarter when he was sandwiched by Freehauf and another defender.

Charles finished 3-of-12 for 81 yards. He produced the Buffaloes’ only touchdown on a 57-yard strike to Jose Garcia in the second quarter.

Central Catholic produced four sacks and limited Manteca to just three first downs in the second half. The Buffaloes had been averaging 47.5 points per game.

Freehauf said the returning members of the defense played with a chip of their shoulder.

Despite a glut of state championships and Sac-Joaquin Section titles, the district’s top returning tackler felt that Central Catholic needed a statement win over Manteca to prove its place in the Valley Oak League.

Well, they got it.

“This is mostly big for the guys that played last year. Manteca made the statement that Central didn’t belong in the VOL. That’s what they wanted to say,” Freehauf said. “We took them into overtime and did our thing and came out with a squeaked-out victory, so our mentality was to shut them down and come out with a huge win.”

This story was originally published October 17, 2015 at 12:52 AM with the headline "Rice powers Central Catholic past Manteca."