Third time not the charm for Modesto Christian against nemesis Capital Christian

Modesto Christian head coach Mike Parsons got a hug from his daughter near midfield after his team’s 21-12 loss in a rematch of last year’s Sac-Joaquin Section Division VI championship game.

After they embraced, he had a new perspective on the Crusaders’ third loss to the Cougars in the past 12 months.

“She told me, ‘You lost the first one last year and it didn’t ruin your season,’” said Parsons, who overcame a 23-22 heartbreaker in the 2014 opener and reeled off 11 consecutive victories before reaching the D-VI final, where MC was again beaten by Capital Christian, 35-28. “She’s pretty mature for a seventh-grader.”

The Crusaders, at times, looked like a team that has what it takes to get back to a section title game.

On the first two touches of the game, junior running back Chris Brown busted off gainers of 64 and 58 yards, respectively. The former resulted in MC’s first touchdown of the night while the latter took the ball to the 1, where, two plays later, Paul Puuauli bounced in from 3 yards out to give his team a 12-7 advantage with 5:23 to play in the first quarter.

Mostly, though, Modesto Christian looked like a young team – 11 of the 19 players on its roster are underclassmen – that needs on-field experience. Nine penalties for 75 yards, most of which took the Crusaders out of manageable down-and-distance situations or kept Cougar drives alive, showed that there’s plenty of work to be done.

Nobody knows that better than Parsons, who, in his first stint as Modesto Christian coach, led the team to a 15-0 season and the school’s only CIF state championship in 2009. The following year, at Clovis West, he led the Golden Eagles to a Central Section Division I crown. Then, last year, his first back at MC, he was again playing for a blue banner.

“I’ve got to be a little tougher on them in practice,” said Parsons, who admitted to going light on the whip because of his limited numbers. “We sort of go through the motions sometimes. And that’s on me.”

Brown, who also plays defensive back, got dinged after making a tackle.

“I felt sick on the sideline and threw up,” said Brown. “I feel a little nauseous right now.”

Brown had 122 yards after his first two touches of the game, but had just 12 yards on 11 carries the rest of the night.

Part of that might have been due to being sick, but it also had a lot to do with linebacker Jack Haney, a 6-2, 220-pound heat-seeker who stalked Brown sideline to sideline.

“I think our guys settled in after a while,” said CC coach Phil Grams. “But our defense is really disciplined. We expected a dogfight.”

Trailing 12-7, the Cougars went ahead with 7 minutes, 47 seconds, remaining in the first half when Marcus Fowler hauled in a short pass from quarterback Jacob Norville and raced in for an 18-yard score. Capital Christian extended the lead with 5:07 left in the third quarter on an 8-yard scoring strike from Norville to Haney.

When the Cougars were flagged for excessive celebration, the point-after attempt was pushed back to the 25 – no gimme. A miss would’ve kept it a one-score deficit, but Derek Weck’s kick was true, and CC went ahead by nine, the final margin.

Modesto Christian hosts Calaveras, a 14-6 loser to Escalon on Friday, next week at Roy Blakeley Field.

This story was originally published September 5, 2015 at 1:17 AM with the headline "Third time not the charm for Modesto Christian against nemesis Capital Christian."