By Ray Hamill — Saturday’s game at the Redwood Bowl was simultaneously exciting and frustrating, and perhaps a wake-up call for a College of the Redwoods team that will begin play in a very tough conference in two weeks time.
Head coach Jason White and his players welcomed Monterey Peninsula to the North Coast for their final pre-conference game and suffered their first loss of the season in a showdown they will feel they should have won.
They drove the ball well all afternoon, took the lead with under two minutes remaining, and had the Lobos pinned back on their own five-yard line facing a fourth-and-17 with just over 60 seconds on the clock.
But several CR drives stalled deep in Monterey territory with three missed field goals as well as a missed PAT, and the visitors pieced together an outstanding drive in the final seconds to sneak a 27-26 victory.
“It’s frustrating,” White said. “We had plenty of opportunities to win that game and just never made that one play we needed to make.”
A 24-yard TD pass from CR quarterback Kasen Covert to the impressive Uriah Carlston broke a 20-20 tie with 1:55 remaining in the game and it appeared as if the home team would stretch an unbeaten start to the season to five straight wins.
But the Lobos had other ideas.
After an intentional grounding call left them facing a fourth-and-17 from their own five, quarterback Dom Pierini completed a 26-yard pass to receiver Nico Downie to kickstart the late scoring drive, and they quickly marched 95 yards on seven plays — including a fourth-down and a third-down conversion — in less than 40 seconds to tie the game, before adding the PAT for a one-point lead.
Monterey receiver Taveon Sueing caught a two-yard TD pass to cap an outstanding day that saw him rack up 220 yards and two TDs on seven catches.
“We let them stick around,” said White, whose team had 453 yards, compared to the visitors’ 418. “In the National Division anyone can win on any given week, and Monterey came in and made less mistakes than we did.”
Frustrations aside, it was a barnburner for the large crowd in attendance and a back-and-forth showdown that never saw more than eight points separating the two teams.
After back-to-back three-and-outs for the two teams to start the game, Redwoods pieced together an impressive second drive to open the scoring, marching 94 yards on six plays and scoring on a four-yard Tanner Pidgeon TD run midway through the first quarter.
It was the the third straight game that the former Ferndale Wildcat found the end zone and the fourth time in five weeks he was involved in a touchdown, having also thrown a TD pass in the opener at San Jose.
The Redwoods defense would hold the Lobos on the ensuing possession and the offense went to work again, marching from their own nine to deep in Monterey territory.
However, a missed field goal not only saw the impressive drive end without any reward but also set the tone for the remainder of the game.
The normally sure-footed Brandon Sailer would make just two of five field goal attempts for the game — including three misses in the second quarter alone and a fourth in the second half that was nullified on a penalty against the Lobos — although in fairness all of them were from some distance.
But it was a missed PAT on Carlston’s go-ahead TD late in the fourth that would prove decisive.
The visitors would pull within one on their first touchdown of the day four minutes into the second quarter — they missed on a two-point try — but Redwoods would respond barely three minutes later when Covert found a wide-open Carlston down the sideline for a 54-yard TD to widen the lead out to eight.
Later in the quarter, Pierini connected with Sueing on a 77-yard TD to pull Monterey back within one going into the break.
The Redwoods defense — which was led by Aaeden McCullum, Ja’Ree Alexander and Ferndale’s Henry Westfall — started the second half well and forced three consecutive three-and-outs in the third quarter.
But the offense was unable to really take advantage, adding two field goals — one from 31 yards and one from 17 yards — to reestablish a seven-point lead heading into the fourth.
The Lobos would pull even early in the fourth on a 20-yard TD pass from Pierini to Jaiden Brown, before CR’s nine-play, 78-yard drive — which included two big third-down conversions — resulted in Carlston’s go-ahead TD catch.
CR was called for 81 yards on 10 penalties, compared to the Lobos’ 11 for 105, but it was the timing of those calls that really hurt.
CR receiver Quinton Buckland had two TD catches nullified on holding penalties.
“That was frustrating,” White said. “It was one of those weird games where nothing went our way. Us not taking our opportunities is what it came down to.”
Carlston had a monster game, finishing with 148 yards and the two TDs on seven receptions, while Tre Silva added 56 yards on four catches and Romyl Luster had 47 yards on four catches.
Covert completed 25-of-36 passes for 321 yards, two TDs and two interceptions, while Aaron Clifton led the ground attack with 67 yards on nine carries and Mataio Olomua added 42 yards on 11 carries.
CR ran the ball 42 times for 132 yards, but averaged just 3.1 a carry.
Defensively, McCullum finished with a team-high five tackles, all solo, while Alexander and Westfall each had four tackles, including a tackle for a loss each.
After a bye, CR will begin conference play on the road at American River in two weeks, and White will be hoping this loss re-focuses his players in what will be a tough stretch run with three of CR’s conference opponents ranked ranked in the top 11 in the state in the most recent coaches poll.
“Anyone can come in and beat you on any week,” White said. “And we’ve got to remember that.”
