Central Catholic stifles Kimball’s high-flying offense, rolls 55-16
Kimball High’s football team came into Friday night’s game at Central Catholic with the state’s leading passer and an offense averaging 53 points a game.
The Jaguars left David Patton Memorial Field with a clear understanding: Central Catholic is still the elite of the Valley Oak League.
The Raiders’ defense stymied the high-flying Kimball offense, and Central Catholic ran for eight touchdowns in a stunningly easy 55-16 victory.
“We played one of our best defensive games,” Central Catholic coach Roger Canepa said. “We’re a very good home football team. And our kids played hard.”
Julian Lopez rushed for four touchdowns in the first half and Aiden Taylor ran for three more as the Raiders (6-1, 3-0) set up a showdown with Manteca next Friday night.
Kimball senior quarterback Nicholas Coronado entered the contest as the state’s leading passer, with 2,344 yards and 31 touchdowns. But Coronado never looked comfortable as Central Catholic mixed up its coverages and applied pressure all night.
Coronado finished the night with pedestrian numbers — 15-for-35 for 253 yards and a touchdown. He was intercepted once and fumbled once. He had left the game when the Jaguars scored their second TD in garbage time.
“We had to come in confident,” said Taylor, also a starting linebacker and a leader on the Raiders’ defense. “(We did) a lot of planning and preparation for them, for the quarterback specifically.”
Central Catholic defense dominates
Kimball was hurt by dropped passes and turnovers. Coronado was intercepted in the first quarter on a pass that went through his receiver’s hands. The Jaguars also lost two fumbles.
The most eye-opening stat may have been this: the Jaguars passed the ball on fourth down five times, and each pass fell incomplete.
Central Catholic was able to keep the ball once it got it. Behind a huge offensive line, the Raiders featured a two-headed monster at running back, taking time off the clock and keeping the ball out of Coronado’s hands.
The Raiders were without Tyler Jacklich, who was injured a week earlier, but got back Lopez a 6-foot-1, 225-pound bulldozer who finished with 97 yards on 14 carries.
Taylor, who sparked a win at Oakdale a week earlier, ran for 125 yards on 18 carries.
A learning experience for Kimball
First-year Kimball coach LaTef Grim said his team was humbled by the loss and knows that the Jaguars still need work to get to Central Catholic’s level.
“We had way too many mistakes,” he said. “When you play a team like this you’ve got to come out and execute.
“It just lets you know where your program is at. ... It was a great learning experience. You can learn more from losing sometimes than you do winning.”
Kimball (6-1, 2-1) plays Sierra at home next Friday, then visits Manteca on Oct. 22.
Central Catholic will play host to Manteca (7-0, 3-0) next Friday night for what likely will be the game of the year in the VOL.
Manteca needed overtime to defeat 4-3 East Union on Oct. 1, but the Buffaloes feature one of the area’s most dynamic players in running back/linebacker Blake Nichelson.
“We take it one game at a time,” Canepa said when asked about the matchup with the Buffaloes. “We’re undefeated in league; we’re right where we want to be.”
This story was originally published October 8, 2021 at 11:39 PM.
