St. Mary's blows out Central

Too much speed for the Raiders

Brian VanderBeek
bvanderbeek@modbee.com

E-Mail

reprint or license

Comments (0)

Text Size:

tool goes here

STOCKTON -- For 48 physical minutes, Central Catholic High School did everything it could to slow down St. Mary's.

Almost none of it worked, and the best evidence of that was the half-a-hundred the Rams posted on the scoreboard in Friday night's 50-28 Holy Bowl victory.

But as soon as the final gun sounded, the Raiders were quick to shake hands and wish St. Mary's the best of luck the rest of the season.

PREP FOOTBALL QUICK LINKS

Yes, teams do that after every high school game. But this time, don't doubt Central's sincerity.

As coach Roger Canepa told his team after the game, the Raiders' goals did not change with this loss. They still plan to play 15 games and the only way to do that would be for Central to earn a berth in the state Division III bowl game.

That path that would include not only the Raiders running the table and claiming a Sac-Joaquin Section title, but also would mandate that the Rams do the same and earn a spot in the state open division game.

Should St. Mary's lose a game and still win the section title, they could be relegated to taking the Division III state bowl berth -- a great consolation for the Rams, but an achievement that would block Central's path to the game.

"We're hoping they keep winning and beat Grant along the line and hopefully go to the open division game so we can root for each other in the state bowl games," said Central wingback/defensive back Billy Flamion.

Prior to Friday, the Raiders had a clear path to that Division III game -- one that involved beating St. Mary's for the second straight year.

But despite matching -- and at time surpassing -- the Rams physically in this game, Central Catholic was not going to be able to keep up with St. Mary's speed.

So it didn't matter that Central nearly matched St. Mary's offense, getting outgained only 415-411 and had three more first downs than its host. St. Mary's -- with talented quarterback Marcus McDade having ample time to find his sure-handed receivers downfield -- was able to strike almost at will while this game still was in doubt.

"They didn't do anything we didn't work on, we just didn't execute," said Central coach Roger Canepa. "They catch the ball, they make one move and they're gone. We haven't seen that kind of speed. What bothered me is that when we had the chance to make a play we just didn't execute."

Central was forced to play catch-up the entire game after St. Mary's scored on its first three possessions to take a 22-3 lead. McDade started the game completing six of nine passes for 138 yards and two scores, while running for a third.

The margin was cut to 22-10 at halftime, leaving the Raiders one stop from perhaps getting back into the game, but St. Mary's scored four plays into the third quarter, recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff, and scored again six plays later.

Suddenly it was 36-10 with 9:16 left in the third quarter, and the only doubt was how long this marathon game in excess of three hours would last.

Central Catholic never stopped fighting, as quarterback Dylan Swartz finished with 248 passing yards, but the Raiders were no match as St. Mary's took a 10-9 lead in this series that has been played off-and-on since 1975.

The Raiders and Rams can't play again this season, so they'll just have to settle for watching each other and hoping for a chance to root each other on this December in Carson.

"Our goal is to play 15 games," Canepa said. "We're not dead yet, but we have a lot of work to do. We have to get better. No excuses. They beat us."