The Cathedral Catholic High School boys varsity football team defeated the Carlsbad High School Lancers 24-21 in a nail-biting game on Friday to move on to the CIF semifinals.

To start off the game, the Dons scored early in the first quarter with a successful extra point. Not long after, the Lancers had a touchdown pass from Shea Morales ’16 to Troy Cassidy ’16 for a 52-yard gain with an unsuccessful extra point, making the score 7-6, Dons in the lead.

In the second quarter, the Dons scored again, with a touchdown pass from Tate Haynes ’17 to Je’von Figaro ’17 for a 84-yard gain. The extra point was successful by Kevin Boermeester ’16. By halftime, the score was 14-6, and it seemed all the Dons had to do was hold the Lancers where they were.

“We prepared for the game this week with a ton of film study, weights and of course field instruction,” Carlsbad head coach, Mr. Thadd MacLean said. “Our players were really excited for this opportunity, and tonight was a great group of guys playing who love the game.”

However, in the third quarter, Carlsbad’s Kenneth Macdonald ran a 4-yard touchdown with a successful extra point by Collin Riccitelli. The score was now 14-13. The Dons were still in the lead, and all seemed fine, until the fourth quarter came around, and the Lancers scored again with an 18-yard touchdown pass and a two point conversion pass.

It seemed the Dons season was coming to an end, the score was 14-21, and the crowd fell silent. The Dons fumbled the ball, and the Lancers recovered it. The game was in the Lancers favor; all they had to do to win was to run out the six minutes and ten seconds left on the clock. Tides turned when Victor Centera ’16 rallied the parents and students to start cheering. Suddenly, Wyatt Schmitt ’16 recovered a fumble with 2:16 remaining in the quarter.

The crowd went ballistic, the Dons were back in the game. Two plays quickly brought the ball to the 33 yard line. Hogan Irwin, ’16, broke away from the line of scrimmage and ran a 33-yard touchdown with 1:42 to go.

Carlsbad had the ball again, but the Dons’ defence held them at the yard line, forcing Carlsbad to punt the ball. The Dons got a hand on it, and had the ball on the 56 yard line, and gained 8 yards, but with 3.3 seconds left, there was a timeout called by the Dons.

Kicker Kevin Boermeester ’16 came into the game. The Cathedral crowd waiting in anticipation to see if the Dons would pull through. He kicked the ball, and it flew 48 yards over the crossbar with the first successful field goal of the season, and giving Cathedral the win.

“When Kevin kicked the game winner, I ran to him and carried him to the trainer bench with the rest of the team,” Kai Walter, ‘16 said. “And before he kicked it, he had that look in his eye as if he knew he was not going to miss this one.”

The crowd celebrated, some hugging each other and others in tears. The Dons had won the game. As the football team prayed and gave the Lancers “good game” high fives, it seemed the whole stadium was ready to charge the field and give the Dons their congratulations.

“When I saw the ball go through the uprights, I just looked up to the sky and said ‘thank you God’ because this team, especially the seniors deserve it more than anything,” Nick Doyle, ‘17 said. “From the early-morning lifts in January, summer workouts, and now the survival of the fittest: playoffs, we have worked too hard to go home.”

The Dons will play Helix High School Highlanders in the Open Division semifinals next Friday at Helix.