After winning a game that went to the final play against Torrey Pines last week, the Cathedral Catholic Dons were trounced on both sides of the football by the Helix Highlanders 48-14 in a game that was never really in reach for the Dons.
The Highlanders played this game with heavy hearts over their fallen cross country coach Bob Baird. During the pre-game ceremonies, all in attendance were asked to take a moment of silence in honor of the coach who passed away last Wednesday.
Helix came out quickly after a Dons three and out, scoring on a ten yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Kendal Keys who ended a great six yard run by diving over a Dons defender for a touchdown to make it 7-0 Helix.
On the Dons next possession, junior quarterback Garrett Bogart threw to his right on a quick screen that was jumped and intercepted by senior defensive back Cameron Lee of Helix and taken back 49 yards for the touchdown to make it 14-0 Helix.
On the next drive, the Dons were again forced to punt it away. The punt was blocked, however, by Helix, which later resulted in a three yard touchdown run by Helix’s senior running back Darrion Hancock. The extra point was no good, making it 20-0 Helix.
The Dons’ defense struggled all night long to stop the Highlanders, who seemed to score at will, with receivers like junior Kendal Keys who had three catches for 70 yards, and senior running back Darrion Hancock who ended the night with four touchdowns and 100 yards.
Likewise, the CCHS offense struggled to get the ball moving at all against the Highlanders.
The Dons did not go down without a fight, however. With just about ten minutes left in the game, senior Riley Sanchez got the handoff from two yards out to make it 48-7 Helix. Later in the quarter senior, Andrew DeMaria got the handoff from one yard out for the score to make it 48-14 Helix.
The Dons seem to have come out of this defeat with the right mentality.
“It’s a great thing to be humbled,” said senior corner back Kale Evans after the game.
The Highlanders move to 2-1 on the season and will travel to Los Angeles next week to face Venice High School. The Dons also move to 2-1 and need to wash the bad taste of this game out of their mouths quickly as they face a talented Olympian team, who are coming off of a big 22-7 victory over Torrey Pines, next week at Olympian High School.