Patterson falls to unbeaten Twelve Bridges in Division IV section title game
Junior quarterback Max Medina found senior receiver Noah Cozart for an emotional embrace.
The Medina-Cozart connection has been brewing since they lined up in youth football years ago. The two have won a league title, changed leagues and been to a pair of section championships. All together.
Medina will have to find a new receiver next season after the two connected during three varsity seasons for 2,305 yards and 33 touchdowns. 1,058 yards and 16 scores came just this season.
Head coach Rob Cozart embraced Noah Cozart, his nephew, then embraced his assistant coach and brother Steve, Noah’s dad.
But it’s not just them.
Nearly the entire 20-man senior class has taken the field together at one point before even entering high school. Some were four-year impact players, playing valuable snaps since their first season. A number of them grew into their roles, going from JV players to varsity starters. Rob Cozart has been there each step of the way.
That’s what made the Tigers’ 55-7 season-ending loss to Twelve Bridges in the Division IV Sac-Joaquin Section championship more emotional.
“I’m watching all these seniors,” Cozart said as he wiped tears from his eyes. “I’ve watched some of them grow. I’ve known them since they were babies. All through sports, I’ve watched them compete for each other. For us.”
The Tigers ran into a powerful machine in an unbeaten Twelve Bridges team that is just as good on the ground as it is through the air. With seniors and experience up and down the roster, the Raging Rhinos seemed to capitalize on every Tigers mistake.
Patterson will have to wait at least another year if it wants to capture the first football section title in program history. Under Cozart, they have played three title games at three locations. In 2007, the Tigers played at the University of the Pacific. Last season, they played at St. Mary’s, and Friday night’s bout was at Sacramento City College.
Players lined up and walked single-file greeting each coach for the last time this season. For 20 players, it was the last time in their high school careers.
“We’ve had guys that have started 39 games and some guys that are gonna come back and do more than that. The numbers they’ve been able to put up and the competitiveness they’ve brought. Last year, we were trying to get on the map, now, we’re on the map. Everything they’ve accomplished can’t be taken away from them.”
Miscues cost the Tigers
Patterson’s best drive of the game came in the first half. The Tigers answered a Rhinos score with a 13-play, 74-yard drive to even the game at 7-7. Medina capped the drive with a one-yard touchdown run.
The Tigers played a tough schedule this season and were not 100% entering the title game. Their starting center missed most of the season after getting hurt in a nonleague contest against California High of San Ramon. After moving to the Valley Oak League, they played some of the Stanislaus District’s most physical schools. Coby Joseph, the Tigers’ second leading rusher, missed last week’s semifinal and played through an injury Friday.
After Patterson tied the game with 3:23 left in the opening frame, it was all Twelve Bridges as uncharacteristic miscues plagued the Tigers. Early season punting issues showed themselves again, giving the Rhinos the ball in Patterson territory. Offensively, drops hindered them and they struggled to tackle the Rhinos’ dynamic running back Braeden Ward, who went for four rushing scores.
The Tigers also were forced into three interceptions and a fumble.
“It didn’t help that we gave them half the field in the first half,” Cozart said. “We had a lot of drops and we did not have the explosive run plays that we normally have.”
Twelve Bridges unbeaten for a reason
The Raging Rhinos proved Friday that the 12-0 record they had entering the section title game was no fluke.
Twelve Bridges beat Sacramento-area great Placer twice, once in Foothill Valley League play and again in the section semifinals, it entered the title game allowing an average of just 16 points a game and scored more than 50 points in eight of its last 10 games.
It is a team that will graduate just its second senior class this year. After last year ended in heartbreaking fashion in the D-V title game, the Rhinos graduated 18 starters and had to essentially start over this year.
They scored touchdowns on their first eight drives, including answering Patterson’s game-tying touchdown with 48 unanswered points.
An offense that good, Cozart said, does not just put pressure on the defense.
“They’re a juggernaut on offense, so they’re going to stress our defense,” Cozart said. “You’ve got to get stops. And we couldn’t get a stop, which meant we had to score. At 7-7, we answered. But then it was breakdown, breakdown, breakdown.”
Patterson has players coming back
There is no doubt that Patterson will lose a good amount of its core to graduation, but the Tigers will have Medina back next season. Jace Johnson and Royale Tago will be back for their junior and senior seasons, respectively.
Though they were unsuccessful for the second straight season in a section final, Cozart said this year’s team can learn something from the loss.
“To always keep fighting for what you believe in,” Cozart said. “No matter what, we still feel we should have been the two seed. We fought and had a good strength of schedule and we’re not going to back down.”
