Modesto misses on early opportunities, falls to mighty St. Mary’s
Modesto turned the ball over on downs twice inside the red zone in the first quarter and St. Mary’s countered with long touchdown runs each time en route to a 64-7 victory over the Panthers in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I football playoffs Friday night in Stockton.
Modesto, seeded 15th in the D-I bracket, lost its final four games of the season and finishes at 6-5. The second-seeded Rams, ranked 15th in the state by Cal-Hi Sports, will host the winner of Friday’s Monterey Trail-Pitman contest.
“We got the opening kickoff and drove it down to the 5,” said Panthers head coach Don Wallace. “We lost it on downs, trying to punch it in, but we went right down the field on them.”
Unfortunately, the Rams drove the length of the field for a score. With the two-point conversion, Modesto was an 8-0 hole.
On its next possession, the Panthers again got inside the 10 before a holding penalty backed up them up. St. Mary’s blocked Modesto’s field-goal attempt and returned the ball to the Panthers’ 15 and eventually scored to go up 15-0.
A Trae Nichols interception set up Modesto’s lone score of the night, when Markus Brady hauled in a 35-yard TD reception from junior quarterback Norvale Howard to make it 15-7.
“We had some great drives in the first half but we couldn’t capitalize,” said Wallace. “Who knows what happens if we do. It’s a ballgame.”
This story was originally published November 10, 2016 at 10:45 PM with the headline "Modesto misses on early opportunities, falls to mighty St. Mary’s."