This football season was truly the season of the Don. After a long fought regular season and playoff schedule, Cathedral rose to the occasion at Qualcomm Stadium last Monday. The Dons faced off against the San Pasqual Golden Eagles for the Division I title, the first appearance by Cathedral in a Division I CIF championship.
The game was far from a snoozer. With three overtimes and six lead changes throughout, it was truly a nail biter from start to finish. After the first half of the game, both teams were tied at 10-10. The first half was filled with exciting plays, a blocked field goal to deny a San Pasqual lead, and a pick six by San Pasqual to tie up the game before half time.
The Eagles received to start the second half and quickly drove the length of the field to carry momentum into the second half. The Dons got the ball back, only to turn it over on a fumble. San Pasqual took over, but couldn’t take advantage of the possession and punted it away. With the 4th quarter starting, Cathedral was still trailing by 7. The Dons carefully drove the ball from their own 8 yard line to score a decisive touchdown run by Chris Moliga. With the point after, that made it a tie game. San Pasqual got the ball back with a chance to score the go-ahead field goal or touchdown, but couldn’t make anything happen.
They punted it away and the Dons had one final shot to close the game out. The Dons took over on their own 40, and on the first play ripped a huge run by seniors Chris Moliga. But, when things were looking up, he attempted a lateral to senior Aaron Mitchell, which was unfortunately scooped up by a San Pasqual defender. The Cathedral crowd was stunned and apprehensive; the Eagles now had one last chance at redemption. Luckily, the Dons defense stepped up and denied a San Pasqual chance to win. Regulation ended, and both teams headed to overtime.
Overtime rules in football are as follows: each team will receive the ball on their 25 yard line with an opportunity to score. After two overtimes, each team will be required to go for a two-point conversion instead of a point after. Statistically, this ensures one team will come out on top. If either team fails to convert on a possession or turns the ball over (and the other team converts off the turnover), overtime ends and the opponent is victorious.
With the title on the line, the team captains met at center field for the coin toss. Cathedral won, deferring to defense for the first possession in hopes of a defensive stop and an opportunity to close out the game. But, after two overtimes, the teams were still tied. Each team had converted on big 4th downs to keep their respective drives alive, and now San Pasqual got the ball back on the 25 with a chance to keep the game going.
The Eagles moved the ball all the way down to the Cathedral 6 yard line. It was second and goal, and they had a chance to score. The Eagles took the snap, faked the handoff, and looked to hit their running back on an angle route over the middle. But the Dons weren’t fooled by the play action. Junior Jack Onstott read the pass, and the Eagles quarterback telegraphed the play right to him. Jack stepped up to make a play and picked off the ball. This was it. This was the nail in the Eagle’s title-hopes coffin. Jack ran like he’s never run before, and went 94 yards for the game-winning touchdown. Overtime ended, and the Dons had won.
“It happened so fast, I was just trying to find a lane to get to the end zone,” said Jack. He went on to commend his whole team with the fortitude to play through all the overtimes and keep their hopes alive: “Never quitting, we didn’t stop playing, we knew we could beat this team.”
Defensive Coordinator Mr. John Montali said, “I was a little disappointed we didn’t finish in the first two overtimes overall, we couldn’t stop them. We were tired, we were dragging. Kyle (Davis) and X (Ulutu) were playing both ways. He [The San Pasqual quarterback] telegraphed it [the throw], Onstott came up to play the run, and Jack was there.”
He went on to say that Cathedral’s schedule helped prepare them the most for the big stage at the Q.
“Honestly I’m gonna say two things: first thing would be, our pre league schedule, the Vista Murrieta Game, and the Jordan game, these teams were ranked very high. It’s pressure, it’s a lot of pressure to play quality teams in showcase games and compete and win. I felt going into overtime that it was gonna come down who could limit mistakes…We’ve played the Oceansides, Helixes, and Torreys. We schedule them by our own volition. It doesn’t matter where you put us, we’re gonna do well,” Montali said.
Coach Montali also offered up a lot of praise to the kids who played so hard all season towards eclipsing this defining moment in Dons history. “Two of the teams that are in the open [division], we played. It’s a tribute to our kids. It doesn’t matter where they put us, we’re gonna do the best we can and come out on top.”
Mr. Montali also mentioned they will be moving to the open division next year, which will put us on the same divisional level with powerhouses such as De la Salle and Mater Dei. The Division I title plus the five other titles give Cathedral a very strong resume to officially make the move into the open division. Coach offered up his opinion on their past success and the criticism it’s received.
He said, “It’s big, it’s one of those things where people will say you’ve won five titles in D III, you can only play the schedule you’re scheduled to play in.”
With the first title in the books, Cathedral can look forward to enjoying their offseason as champions.
