Placer tops Patterson in battle of 11-0 teams; will get Central Catholic next
PATTERSON For the first time all season, Patterson High’s football team with the task of having to dig itself out of a hole.
A hole that it dug for itself.
The Tigers (11-1) saw their season come to an end Friday with a mistake-filled, 65-52 loss to Placer (12-0) in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III quarterfinal round.
The undefeated Hillmen advance to the semifinal round where they will take on unbeaten Central Catholic (12-0). Inderkum (12-0) will travel to Oakdale (11-1) in the other D-III semifinal.
“This is what we anticipated,” said Patterson coach Rob Cozart. “We knew we were going to have to score a lot of points tonight.”
While a lot of points may have been anticipated, Placer having a lot more probably was not. And when the Tigers fell behind 34-14 after Owen Scott’s 84-yard kickoff return with just over four minutes to play in the first half, the Tigers looked like a whipped team.
After Scott’s fourth TD of the game – he also scored on a 10-yard run, a 65-yard reception and an 84-yard run in addition to the long kickoff return – the Hillmen got the ball back when the recovered a pooch kick that dropped into no-man’s in front of Patterson’s return men. Placer took over on the Tigers’ 24 and, with everything going its way, seemed destined to extend its lead to four touchdowns.
But that’s when Patterson caught a break.
The Hillmen fumbled on the first play after recovering the pooch kick and Tigers recovered on their own 28. On Patterson’s first play, quarterback Kevin Todd hit Jonathan Okitukunda for a 72-yard touchdown strike.
Instead of being down by four TDs, Patterson trailed by just two scores, 34-21.
On Placer’s next drive, Tigers defensive back Michael Lawson stepped in front of a Marcus Ante pass and set up his team at the 35 with a nice return. Todd would eventually score on a 1-yard dive to make it 34-28 with just over three minutes remaining in the half.
Next, Patterson limited Placer to an Andres Prieto field goal, which made it 37-28 with 1:06 in the quarter.
Intent on scoring before halftime, the Tigers took to the air and were intercepted by outside linebacker Derek Haney, who nearly returned it for a touchdown. Haney completed the task on the next play when Ante hit him for a 9-yard TD strike that made it 44-28 at the break.
Patterson would not get within single digits again.
“It hurts,” said Lawson. “The team we had, I felt, could’ve gone a long way. The mistakes just messed us up.”
Patterson had a wide-open receiver drop pass in the end zone, fumbled twice inside the red zone and had a 93-yard kickoff return by Lawson nullified by a penalty.
The Tigers got big games from Todd (28-of-43 for 437 yards and two TDs) and Jamal Broussard (six carries, 120 yards), and rolled up 771 yards of total offense, but they gave up nearly as much on defense.
Scott rushed for 234 yards on 20 carries, while teammates Jared Halbert (140) and Waylen Cozad (134) also ran wild. All told, the Hillmen rushed for 511 yards and amassed 623 yards of total offense.
“They were really fast on defense, but our offensive line dominated the line of scrimmage and opened holes for us,” said Scott.
Placer was playing with something of a chip on its shoulder, feeling a bit snubbed that their perfect regular season earned them nothing more than a No. 5 seed.
“We thought we should’ve been seeded higher,” said Scott. “Patterson was good but we thought we were better.”
Had the Hillmen been seeded higher, Patterson would’ve had to make the two-hour trip. As it stands, they have to make virtually the same trip next week when they visit Central Catholic.
“It poses a great challenge,” said Scott of playing the three-time defending state champions. “It’s exciting to play a team like that.”.
Joe Cortez: 209-578-2380, @ModBeePreps
This story was originally published November 21, 2015 at 5:35 AM with the headline "Placer tops Patterson in battle of 11-0 teams; will get Central Catholic next."