Prep football: Marin Catholic falls to San Ramon Valley on late field goal

“Literally, they made one more play than we did,” Marin Catholic head coach Mazi Moayed said after the Wildcats’ 19-17 loss to San Ramon Valley in the CIF Northern California Regional 2A football championship in Danville on Saturday night.

The Marin Catholic football team had a chance to tighten its grip on the lead with a field-goal attempt in the fourth quarter, but San Ramon Valley’s defense made a big play to block the kick. Minutes later, the host Wolves lined up for a decisive field goal, and neither the rain nor the Wildcats stopped the ball from going through the uprights.

“Literally, they made one more play than we did,” Marin Catholic head coach Mazi Moayed said after the Wildcats’ 19-17 loss to San Ramon Valley in the CIF Northern California Regional 2-A football championship in Danville on Saturday night. “Tonight, it was going to be decided by who makes the last play, and they did that.”

The Wildcats (13-1) hadn’t experienced a loss since September of 2021. The Wildcats won their last 11 games en route to winning the CIF State 4-AA title.  They followed that up with 13 consecutive wins this season leading into Saturday’s contest, so the loss hit especially hard as players broke down after the final play — a desperate scramble to make something happen on the kickoff return, which yielded nothing.

Tears disappeared in the raindrops as the Wildcats were hit by the reality that their season ended short of the goal they had set for themselves a year ago.

“We pride ourselves on coming up from D-IV last year to D-II this year,” said senior Robert Tuttle, part of the core of the Wildcats defense. “We played a hell of a game. We gave our all tonight. San Ramon Valley came out and battled and it was their night.”

The steady rain limited the passing options for both teams as Marin Catholic quarterback Joey Cook was held to 65 yards on 9-for-19 passing. San Ramon Valley’s Luke Baker managed to pass for 105 yards.

The Wildcats put the ball in the safe hands of Charles Williams Jr., who rolled up 233 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries. Williams’ speed and determination made him almost too hard to handle for the San Ramon Valley defense.

“It wasn’t any extra pressure. I knew what I had to do,” Williams said. “It’s not the game, it’s playing hard in the game. That’s what I want to do.”

After the Wildcats stopped the Wolves at their 41-yard line on the game’s opening drive, Marin Catholic put Williams to work. He carried the ball eight times during a 10-play, 75-yard scoring drive. Williams’ 38-yard gallop put the ball on the San Ramon Valley 35. A 7-yard pass to Cooper Haswell and another 28 yards by Williams — including a 6-yard touchdown run — gave the Wildcats a 7-0 lead midway through the first quarter.

Baker’s only passing touchdown came at the start of the second quarter on a 19-yard strike to sophomore Owen Scott that tied the game, 7-7.

After the Wolves defense — and a pair of penalties — to punt after a three-and-out, San Ramon Valley’s powerful running back John Pau Mendoza took the ball 58 yards for a touchdown. Mendoza racked up 134 yards on the ground during the night as he blasted through and around Marin Catholic’s defensive line time and again.

Some time in a warm locker room at the break helped both teams. Marin Catholic, after punting on a fourth-and-2 on their first possession of the second half, made the most of its next effort. After the Wildcats moved the ball 32 yards on four plays to the San Ramon Valley 30, Williams broke loose along the left sideline for a 30-yard scoring romp to give Marin Catholic a 14-13 lead midway through the third quarter.

The lead didn’t hold up for long, as San Ramon Valley chewed up time and yardage behind Mendoza to set up a 28-yard field goal for a 16-14 lead with 25 seconds left in the third quarter.

The Wildcats turned the tables on the Wolves on their next possession, with a 27-yard field goal by Charles Lewis to cap a 68-yard drive and take a tentative 17-16 lead with 7:37 left to play.

Marin Catholic’s defense turned up the pressure, determined to not let San Ramon Valley have a chance to score. The Wildcats forced Baker to scramble on a fourth-and-3, then wrapped him up and stripped the ball away. The Wildcats emerged from the pile with the ball at the Wolves’ 31.

“Defensively, we pride ourselves on knowing what to do every play and giving 100 percent,” Tuttle said. “(Coach Moayed) always tells us the job of every player and we executed.”

Williams ran 21 yards on the first play from scrimmage to set up a first-and-goal, but the Wolves defense clamped down, forcing Marin Catholic to set up for a short field goal. The Wolves swooped in around the end of the line to block the kick. The Wolves recovered and ran the ball out to their own 38.

A 30-yard pass by Baker moved the ball into MC territory, and the Wolves then turned to the ground game to move into scoring position.

San Ramon Valley coach Aaron Becker sent junior kicker Austin Shelton onto the field with the rain picking up again and a berth in the CIF State title game hanging in the balance. No pressure. Shelton drove the ball through the uprights for the winning score.

For the Wildcats, they could only wonder what could have been if a couple of more plays had gone their way, or if it hadn’t been raining… What if?

“It’s just a matter of respecting the opponent and knowing that they played a hell of a game and we played a hell of a game, and just respect each other,” Tuttle said. “It’s a game. There’s wins and losses. We just have to battle through.”

While that weighed on their minds, the Wildcats began to look ahead toward next season.

“I’m still taking in the moment,” Williams said. “This is going to be firepower for next season. We just have to do our part for next season and see where we end up…. This is firepower. This game hurts, but everybody wins and loses. It’s part of life, but life is not smooth. It’s a marathon and this is not the end. We’ll be back next year, coming out harder.”

The Wildcats will miss their seniors on offense and defense, including Cook, Matt Greco, Will Clemens, JR Bosch, Sam Testa, McKay Hawthorne, Cooper Scheuermann, and others.

For those seniors, there was a chance to reflect not on the loss, but on the accomplishments of the past four years.

“The amount of growth I’ve seen from all these young men is just incredible,” Marin Catholic senior tackle Mac Dorward said. “The guys who have been here all four years, the guys who came up this year, it’s a group of the finest young men. We focus on what we accomplished and how we did that, all the great things we did together. I’m so proud of this team. These are my brothers for life.”