We continue with our 11th installment this season of Behind the Redwood Curtain, a feature designed to give Prep2Prep readers a short synopsis of what’s going on in the far northernmost region of the Redwood Empire portion of the CIF North Coast Section. The feature this week is mostly musings from longtime Eureka area sports broadcasting personality Tag Wotherspoon titled “Stay in Touch,” and in fact with a smattering of additional insight that is the complete deal this week.
Stay in Touch
Cougar Stadium - Dagget Field on the campus of Rancho Cotate-Rohnert Park will be the site of a showdown when the second-seeded St. Bernard's Crusaders play the top-seeded Cardinal Newman Cardinals in the North Coast Section Division IV championship game on Saturday night. The opening kickoff is scheduled for 7:00 p.m.
In the semifinals last week St. Bernard's jumped out to a 27-0 lead en route to a 71-40 road victory over the sixth seeded Salesian Pride in the semi-finals. Meanwhile, Cardinal Newman is coming off a convincing 54-8 home win over the fifth seeded Piedmont Highlanders.
For the second time in the playoffs St. Bernard’s scored more than 70 points and had over 700 yards of total offense. The Crusaders accumulated 722 yards of total offense and scored 10 touchdowns in its 71-40 road win over Salesian. St. Bernard’s also recovered five on-side kicks, ran for 436 yards and eight touchdowns, and had 286 yards passing.
Senior quarterback Jack Rice completed 18 of 29 passes for 286 yards and two scores. He also had 20 carries for 217 yards and four touchdowns. Senior running back Raequan Washington rushed nine times for 112 yards and a score, and junior wide receiver Micah Fontenot-Cornely caught seven passes for 112 yards and a touchdown.
All those numbers are a moot point right now because St. Bernard’s has not seen anything like Cardinal Newman and its own dual-threat quarterback Jordon Brookshire.
Folks in the Stockton area know about Brookshire. In the Cardinals only defeat this season, a 49-32 loss to Cal-Hi Sports No. 11 St. Mary’s-Stockton, and in a game in which Newman scored more points against the Rams than anyone other than nationally-ranked St. John Bosco-Bellflower, including all its CIF Sac-Joaquin Section D1 payoff opponents, Brookshire was 19-for-25 for 205 yards passing and rushed 20 times for 115 yards and four touchdowns.
ST. BERNARD'S vs. CARDINAL NEWMAN
THE CRUSADERS: St. Bernard's enters the game with a 12-1 overall record. The Crusaders have won 12 games in a row and 25 of their last 26 games. St. Bernard's captured its fourth straight Little Four Conference championship with a perfect 6-0 mark. The Crusaders upended the seventh seeded Del Norte Warriors, 26-15, in the second round. St. Bernard's beat the 15th seeded Healdsburg Greyhounds, 76-24, in the opening round. The Crusaders have outscored their opponents 647-231.
THE CARDINALS: Cardinal Newman owns a 10-game winning streak and has an 11-1 overall record. The Cardinals won the North Bay League for the third straight year with a 7-0 mark. After having a bye in the first round of the playoffs, Cardinal Newman defeated ninth-seeded San Marin, 56-18, in the quarter-finals. The Cardinals have scored 541 points and allowed 189 points.
COACH TOMLIN: Matt Tomlin (St. Bernard's HS - 1995) is in his fourth season as head coach of the Crusaders...He has a 44-7 (.863) win-loss record. Tomlin also spent two years (2009-10) as the head coach of the Piner Prospectors. He has a career win-loss mark of 47-24 (.662).
COACH CRONIN: Paul Cronin (University of Mary - 1996 and Piner HS - 1991) is in his 14th year as head coach at Cardinal Newman. He has a 142-35-2 (.799) win-loss record. Cronin was also the head coach at his alma mater for five seasons (1998-2002).
THE PLAYOFFS: St. Bernard's is making its ninth straight appearance in the post season. The Crusaders won the CIF Division V-A Bowl Game last year. St. Bernard's has captured four section titles. The Cardinals have earned a berth in the playoffs 12 years in a row. Cardinal Newman has won 11 section championships.
LAST MEETING: The two schools are playing each other in football for the first time.
About Tag Wotherspoon
Tag Wotherspoon has been broadcasting and covering high school and college sports for 35 years. Wotherspoon co-hosts North Coast Game Night with JB Mathers on KATA 1340 AM, and 92.7 FM the local ESPN Radio affiliate, on Monday and Thursday from 4-5:30 pm. Wotherspoon, along with Mel Berti, broadcast Fortuna High and St. Bernard football games on 95.1 FM?and 106.7 FM. A Fortuna native, Wotherspoon received his master's degree in telecommunications/film from Syracuse University in 1981. Stay in Touch appears weekly in The Ferndale Enterprise newspaper.
