Oak Ridge defense slows Central Catholic to earn spot in Sac-Joaquin Section D-I title game
Oak Ridge football coach Casey Taylor said he went into Friday night’s game against Central Catholic hoping his defense could hold the Raiders to under 30 points.
The Trojans defense did much better than that.
After Oak Ridge allowed Central Catholic to score on its opening drive, the Trojans held the Raiders to just seven points the rest of the way en route to a 31-14 win in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division I semifinal.
Thanks to the strong defensive effort, and some explosive plays on offense, third-seeded Oak Ridge (10-2) earned a spot in the section title game against rival Folsom, the top seed.
“We knew we’d have to score some points tonight; we knew we had to score 30 and we hoped to hold them under 30,” Taylor said. “At first they showed us a few things we hadn’t seen on film. We made some good adjustments ... we made them a little more one- or two-dimensional.”
“We’re a physical football team and we knew it would take a 48-minute effort tonight.”
Central Catholic’s offense never did get in a good groove. Despite that, the Raiders trailed by just a touchdown at halftime, 21-14.
That’s when the key sequence of the game transpired.
Oak Ridge fumbled the opening kickoff of the second half, and the Raiders’ Titus Leota recovered, setting up Central Catholic at the Trojans’ 30-yard line. A touchdown would tie the game, but the Raiders couldn’t take advantage.
TP Wentworth’s fourth-down pass attempt was knocked down and a few plays later, Oak Ridge quarterback Joaquin Graves-Mercado hit tight end Kaleb Edwards for an 81-yard TD pass and a 28-14 lead.
“It was kind of a broken play,” Edwards said. “We had the streaks called, he rolled out and it was just open. So I just went for it.”
Wentworth was intercepted twice the rest of the way, both times by Trojans linebacker Gavin Molloy.
“We couldn’t get in a rhythm offensively,” Central Catholic coach Roger Canepa said. “They’re a good football team. We just didn’t execute.”
Central Catholic’s strong start
It looked like the Raiders set a tone on their opening drive, moving the ball quickly downfield and scoring on Joey Alcutt’s 10-yard touchdown run.
But Oak Ridge responded, taking a 14-7 on two short TD runs by Erick Orme Jr.
Wentworth’s 20-yard TD scramble on fourth-and-15 tied the game at 14.
But the Trojans again responded quickly, with Graves-Mercado hitting Jadon Anderson for a 57-yard touchdown pass.
Folsom is next for Oak Ridge
Oak Ridge now gets another shot at Folsom, which overcame a slow start to defeat fifth-seeded Inderkum 36-29 in their semifinal matchup Friday night.
Folsom defeated the Trojans 42-21 on Sept 29.
“Obviously we haven’t had a lot of success against them,” Taylor said. “We were tied with six minutes left (in their last game), so we have to find a way to finish.”
The Division I title game will be played Friday at 7 p.m. at Sacramento City College. For the rest of the title game schedule, click here.
Central Catholic now looks ahead
While Oak Ridge can look ahead to the championship game, Central Catholic can only look ahead to next season.
The Raiders (9-3) had a memorable 2023 season, winning the Valley Oak League and giving Canepa his section-record 283rd career coaching win.
Central Catholic will have many key spots to fill, including quarterback. Wentworth was a three-year starter for the Raiders.
“We had a bunch of seniors that worked hard to get to this point,” Canepa said. “We’ll just move on. It’s sad though, because this group is very good. I feel bad for them. But, we’ll be back.”
This story was originally published November 17, 2023 at 11:16 PM.
