Marin Catholic knew all too well the position that Bishop O’Dowd was in last week, and the emotions that the Dragons were likely feeling, trailing Rancho Cotate by seven points with less than three minutes remaining in their North Coast Section Division 3 semifinal game at home.
The Wildcats had experienced that same feeling a week earlier, trailing Miramonte by 11 points in the fourth quarter before rallying for a 20-18 victory in the final minute, and had a number of people in the crowd at Bishop O’Dowd on Saturday night watching their next opponent.
“We knew what (O’Dowd) was going through, watching that game,” said Marin Catholic coach Mazi Moayed. “Napoleon (Kaufman) has done an absolutely tremendous job over there, and it showed in those final minutes.”
O’Dowd stayed composed, and took advantage of two short fields after Rancho Cotate punts. The Dragons tied the game on a beautiful throw-and-catch into the back left corner of the end zone, from Joe Deluca to Cooper Hagmaier, and then won the game in improbable fashion.
With enough time remaining for two plays, Deluca dumped the ball into the right flat to a wide-open Austin Jones, who raced 19 yards along the sideline before wisely stepping out of bounds at the 25-yard line. That sent out the field goal team, and Trey Miller nailed a 42-yarder with three seconds left to send the Dragons to the championship game, seeking their first title since 2004.
The sentiment from both Marin Catholic and Bishop O’Dowd was that neither team had played its best football in those close calls, something that showed for the Wildcats this past weekend, when they dispatched top-seed Analy, holding on late for the 40-35 win.
“We played a pretty bad game (against Rancho Cotate), to be honest,” said Bishop O’Dowd guard and defensive end Jordan Jackson. “We shouldn’t be giving up that many points against anyone. We also know that we need to be on top of our game this week against a very good opponent.”
Meanwhile, Marin Catholic had a week to put those lessons to use, and responded with an offensive outburst against Analy.
“Being behind against Miramonte, we weren’t playing well, but we just kept working, kept chopping wood,” Moayed said. “We stayed the course, and no one pointed fingers or placed blame. That experience helped us a lot against Analy, and we knew we had to just keep playing calm and with confidence.”
Junior quarterback Spencer Petras had a huge performance against Analy, a week after struggling in the win over Miramonte. Petras threw for 327 yards and ran for an additional 84 yards, displaying deceptive running ability for the 6-foot-5 signal caller who can throw the ball 70 yards.
“We’ve seen tremendous development this season from Spencer, and he made a ton of big plays last week,” Moayed said. “He was real sick with the flu in the game against Miramonte, with a fever, chills, you name it. But he battled, had to do push-ups on the sideline to keep his chest loose, and then played exceptionally last week.”
Petras will be challenged this week by a secondary which includes WACC-Foothill Defensive Player of the Year Je’Quari Godfrey, who is committed to Cal. Also featured is junior Jevon Holland, who has offers from schools such as Arizona and Utah State, and Trevor King, who was another first-team all-league selection for the Dragons. Meanwhile, Jackson, who has multiple Division 1 offers, and Hagmaier will look to provide pressure on Petras, who has thrown for 2,826 yards and 33 touchdowns.
Last week, O’Dowd had to deal with athletic quarterback Jake Simmons and receivers Jaelen Ward and Logan Reese. This week, they will face multi-sport standout Jack Hogeboom, who can dominate most one-on-one match-ups in the passing game with his 6-foot-3 frame and leaping ability, and Hunter Juarez, whose speed shines on both sides of the ball.
Juarez leads the team with 43 catches for 837 yards and 11 touchdowns. Ben Skinner and Peter Brown provide two more imposing targets for Petras, both with 6-foot-2 frames and the ability to run past most defenders. Brown is the team’s second-leading receiver with 31 catches for 520 yards and seven scores.
When the Dragons are on offense, meanwhile, Marin Catholic will expect to see a balanced approach, with the sophomore Jones carrying the load in the backfield behind Jackson and USC-bound tackle Alijah Vera-Tucker. Avery Bilensky anchors the center of the line for O’Dowd. Jones has run for 1,401 yards and 24 touchdowns so far this season.
That doesn’t mean the Dragons aren’t willing to put the ball in the air, especially with Hagmaier, Holland, junior Quinn Brinnon, and senior Ethan Baker-Greene all serving as explosive weapons for Deluca. He has used those weapons efficiently this season, throwing for 22 touchdowns with just four interceptions.
These teams met previously in the 2008 Division 3 quarterfinals, a game won by Marin Catholic, 42-27.
