Central Catholic comes from behind again, defeating Merced with kick in overtime
With just over a minute left in the game and Central Catholic trailing by a touchdown, the Raiders were in need of a big fourth-down play.
Senior Jack Grisel delivered.
The Raiders running back took a draw play, saw a hole, and burst toward the sideline. Grisel cut back and scored on a 57-yard touchdown run to help Central Catholic tie Merced at 7-7.
A missed extra point by Merced opened the door for the Raiders in overtime and Grisel scored on a 15-yard touchdown run and the Raiders made the extra point to record its second consecutive comeback win with a 14-13 victory over the Bears at Veteran Stadium on Thursday night.
The win was even more impressive considering Central Catholic (2-0) played with just 18 players.
“We only have 18 players, but we have a lot of heart,” said Grisel. “Nobody wants to lose.”
Grisel had 23 carries for 167 yards and two touchdowns.
Thursday’s matchup was between two football programs with a lot of tradition. One that would have packed the stands during a normal season.
On Thursday night, there was about 700 people in attendance with tickets limited to mostly family members due to COVID-19 restrictions.
You had two coaches in Central Catholic’s Roger Canepa and Merced’s Rob Scheidt who have 61 years combined of head coaching experience and have combined for 417 career wins, with Canepa picking up career win No. 250 last week in a remarkable come-from-behind victory over Bellarmine.
“I thought the competition on the field between the two games was really good,” said Scheidt, whose team dropped to 1-1. “There was no chipping or anything. Even the coaches, we all had a good time tonight. It was a nice atmosphere for that.
“It was just kind of the game that no one got to see.”
Canepa said there was a lot of respect on both sides.
“I have the most respect for (Scheidt). We’ve been through it,” Canepa said. “You win with class, you lose with class. We were out there talking and I said, ‘Hey, you’re kid is tough. He goes, ‘Yeah.’ It’s good. We’re at the end of our careers, both us of probably. That’s the way football should be played.”
Merced, Central Catholic defenses dominate
The two defenses dominated most of the night as both punters collected plenty of kicks to fill their season highlight videos.
Merced finally broke the scoreless tie late in the first half after Grisel fumbled and Bears defensive lineman Damien Chavez pounced on the ball to set up the Merced offense at the Raiders’ 36 yard line with 4:03 left in the first half.
Four plays later, Bears quarterback Seth Scheidt connected with receiver Raheem Choyce on an 11-yard screen pass for a touchdown to give Merced a 7-0 lead with 2:44 left in the half.
Merced’s defense almost held Central Catholic scoreless for 47 minutes.
However, Grisel came up with the big fourth-down run to tie the game with 1:10 left.
“I saw a hole on left side, I knew I was faster than him so I just got up the sideline, cut back up to the right and scored,” Grisel said.
Merced had the ball first in overtime and converted big plays on fourth-and-10, and third-and-20 to move the ball to the Raiders’ 1-yard line. Cody Chapman then plunged into the end zone, but Merced’s extra-point attempt hit off the right crossbar to keep the lead at 13-7.
On Central Catholic’s third play of overtime, Grisel ran around the right side and dove for the pile-on to tie the game at 13-13.
“I had to get outside, make a little more on the corner and dive for the pile-on,” Grisel said.
Central Catholic’s Anthony Wildenberg drilled the extra-point kick through the uprights to set off a Raiders celebration with a 14-13 win.
“We got a lot of heart,” said Canepa, whose team will host St. Mary’s next week. “How many teams can get back-to-back wins with less than 20 people? Amazing..”
It was a tough loss for Merced, but Scheidt saw a lot of good things from his team.
“Really proud of our guys, their effort,” said Scheidt, whose team hosts Hilmar next week. “They only had 20 guys, or whatever it is, but they are 20 good ones. It’s not like we have 60 guys and we can wear them out. We have a lot of guys going both ways, too.
“I thought we played really hard and did some really good things.”
This story was originally published March 26, 2021 at 12:06 AM with the headline "Central Catholic comes from behind again, defeating Merced with kick in overtime."
