Central Catholic unable to mount comeback in state title game against Mater Dei Catholic
It’s not often one team more than quadruples their opponent’s time of possession and runs three times as many plays and still heads into the locker room at halftime trailing.
That was the situation Central Catholic’s football team found itself in after two quarters of the 2021 CIF Division 2-AA State Championship Bowl Game on Friday night.
After trailing by 14 points at halftime, the Raiders’ attempt at a second-half comeback fell short, ending their season with a 34-25 loss to Mater Dei Catholic of Chula Vista.
The Crusaders’ passing attack was on full display early, as they opened the game with a 64-yard pass from Dominic Nankil to Cruz Estrada. They scored on that drive, opening a 7-0 lead just 48 seconds into the game.
Nankil completed 13 of 22 passes for 297 yards and a touchdown.
After a Raiders’ score evened the game at 7 apiece, Mater Dei Catholic scored 13 unanswered first-half points, capped by an 88-yard pick-six by sophomore cornerback Isahia Buxton.
“He’s a star. He is an absolute star,” Crusaders’ coach John Joyner said. “The minute he’s been on campus, he’s been amazing. His parents are both in the Navy. He does the, ‘yes sir, no sir.’ He does everything the right way.”
Despite running 25 more plays than the Crusaders, Central Catholic went into halftime trailing 27-13.
“We couldn’t get our legs under us,” Canepa said of his team’s first half. “They hit us with the first play ... and then we had to claw our way back in the second half. We tried to will ourselves on them.”
Aiden Taylor put the Raiders right back in the game after he broke open a 71-yard touchdown on the Raiders’ first drive of the second half and Julian Lopez added a late score with 5 minutes, 31 seconds left in the fourth.
Taylor finished his final high school game with 18 carries for 192 yards and two touchdowns before leaving the game in late in the third quarter after he was poked in the eye. Lopez contributed 23 carries, gaining 108 yards and scoring twice.
The Raiders did all they could to come back in the second half, but ultimately, ran out of time.
The defense forced a fumble and Jaelen Nichols came up with a timely second-half interception that gave the Raiders the ball with 4:23 remaining.
“We got ourselves back in the game after half and then we just got pinned back (near our end zone),” Canepa said. “It wasn’t our best but it’s what we do. We kind of crawled our way back in when people thought we were out, we kind of found a way (to make it close).”
The Raiders couldn’t put together one final drive. They failed to convert a fourth-down conversion, giving the ball back to the Crusaders on their own 19-yard line.
The Crusaders were athletic
Mater Dei Catholic had two receivers record more than 100 yards in the game. Junior Jerry McClure, a three-star prospect according to 247Sports, hauled in five catches for 103 yards and Estrada added two receptions for 105 yards.
Surahz Buncom, who finished with three catches for 55 yards, caught the team’s only touchdown pass.
Canepa noted the speed of their receivers “They’ve got great athletes,” he said.
Mater Dei Catholic’s passing game set up some nice runs. Nico Mosley carried the ball a team-high nine times for 47 yards and three touchdowns.
On defense, the Crusaders flew around. The Raiders usually use the passing game to keep defenses honest and give the powerful tandem of Lopez and Taylor a rest, but they couldn’t get that part of their offense going against Mater Dei Catholic.
Central Catholic gained just 40 passing yards, which made it tough to get drives going and mount a comeback late in the fourth quarter.
“I’m proud of this team, I don’t think a lot of people had us picked and they fought,” Canepa said. “We played some tough games (this season). You win some, you lose some.”
This story was originally published December 11, 2021 at 12:00 AM.
