Central Catholic stifles Placer to reach D-III section football final

Two teams with matching records were never further apart on Friday evening at David Patton Field.

Central Catholic (13-0) lapped up another blowout victory, its 13th straight in its quest for a Sac-Joaquin Section Division III title and chance at a fourth straight state championship.

Placer (12-1) was left picking up the pieces, its perfect season shattered shortly after the opening kickoff.

Central Catholic scored two touchdowns in a span of 20 seconds early in the first quarter of Friday’s semifinal, setting in motion a stunning running-clock victory over the Hillmen.

The final no one saw coming: 48-14.

(Videp: Pigskin Postgame Wrap)

Justin Rice rushed for a school record 308 yards and scored five touchdowns, but the Fresno State-bound senior was proudest most of the Raiders’ defense.

The high-octane Hillmen were slowed to a crawl by the Raiders, who have played with a chip on their shoulder this postseason.

“Everyone complains that we don’t play anyone in the preseason and we barely pulled off a win versus Oakdale,” said Rice, who started at defensive back. “It’s like, ‘No, we can play with big schools’ and we wanted to prove it with our defense.

“Two shutouts and 14 points against a great offense like Placer ... we wanted to come out and show them what we got; that we can play with them and we have a great defense.”

Placer coach Joey Montoya is a believer. Though he stopped short of picking a winner in next week’s D-III final between Valley Oak League rivals, he did acknowledge the challenge ahead of Oakdale.

“Central Catholic is a tall order for anyone,” Montoya said. “They jumped on us and we never could recover. They’re a good football team, but we also felt like we didn’t play our best game. A lot of that was because of what they did to us.”

Placer isn’t alone.

Central Catholic has left a trail of broken hearts in its return to the Division III bracket.

After shutting out El Camino and Christian Brothers in the first two rounds, the Raiders stifled one of the section’s most explosive offenses on Friday evening.

Placer entered the game with the second-most prolific offense in the Sac- Joaquin Section, trailing only Wood of Vacaville. The Hillmen had thrown for 1,505 yards and rushed for 4,519, an average of 502 yards per game.

Gaudy numbers ... that the Raiders simply gobbled up.

On Friday, that mighty Placer offense with all its weapons was silenced. The Hillmen managed just 28 rushing yards on 34 run plays. Owen Scott, the game-changing wingback averaging nearly 15 yards per carry, finished with 14 yards on 10 carries.

“Their offense is fast-paced. We knew coming in they would be tough to stop,” said middle linebacker Austin Escobar, who credited the scout team offense for establishing the tempo in practices leading up to the game. “All week, the scout ‘O’ came out and played fast. They’re the ones that let us know how much time we had to make our checks.”

Placer quarterback Marcus Ante provided the final highlights in a near-perfect season for the Hillmen. Ante was 4-of-10 for 156 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. He threw an 85-yard touchdown pass to Derek Haney on the last play of the game. Ante also had a 30-yard touchdown to Joe Robinson on a fourth-and-4 in the second quarter.

Robinson slipped Daron Bland’s tackle near the boundary and scooted up the sideline untouched.

That was the only mistake by Central Catholic’s defense, which begged coach Roger Canepa for the game’s first series.

“That’s the No. 1 thing in all football games. You want to come out, lay a hit and get right into the game,” Escobar said. “We wanted to get out there and set the tone. We definitely wanted this game.”

The Raiders harassed Ante throughout, sacking the fleet-footed quarterback six times. Nico Loya had two sacks, while Montell Bland, Zak Sandelin, Emmanuel Rodriguez and Josh Frowein had one apiece.

And then there was Rice, who eclipsed his own school record of 307 rushing yards set against Capital Christian in the CIF Northern California Regional Division IV bowl game last season.

Rice scored on runs of 64, 4, 32, 5 and 1 yard on Friday evening. All told, he had eight runs of 10 or more yards, including a 75-yard burst late in the first quarter. He spun into the end zone three plays later to make it 21-0 after one quarter.

“He was everything we expected,” Montoya said, “and they’re very good up front.”

Rice now has 1,993 rushing yards and can become the first player in Stanislaus District history to post back-to-back 2,000-yard seasons next Friday against Oakdale in the D-III championship.

All signs point toward another big night for the reigning All-District Player of the Year.

In their first meeting, a thrilling 42-37 victory for the Raiders, Rice rushed for 288 yards and three touchdowns. In their regular-season finale last fall, Rice had five carries for 167 yards and eight receptions for 116 yards.

Through 13 games this season, the 6-foot-2, 210-pounder is averaging 11.8 yards per carry.

The Raiders put Placer on its heels at the start.

Rice scored on the Raiders’ first play from scrimmage, shooting through a gap and by the safety en route to a 64-yard touchdown.

“We didn’t believe they’ve played anyone that just punched them in the mouth,” Rice said. “So we wanted to come out and get that stop on ‘D,’ and then run, run, run, punch them in the mouth, punch them in the mouth and tire them out.”

On Placer’s ensuing possession, Frowein stepped in front of Ante’s pass and returned it 22 yards to stake Central Catholic to a 14-0 lead with 7:59 left in the first quarter.

The Raiders held a decisive advantage in nearly every offensive category. Total yards: 491-184. Rushing yards: 474-28. First downs: 16-6. None of that seemed to matter to Canepa, a former linebacker.

“The defensive effort, to me, was more impressive than the way we ran the ball,” Canepa said. “We shut down a team that just scored 62 points (in a win over Patterson). I think they averaged 40 points for the year. To me, defense was the key to this win.”

This story was originally published November 27, 2015 at 11:56 PM with the headline "Central Catholic stifles Placer to reach D-III section football final."