Sacramento, CA – The CIF Division 1-AA Bowl Game was everything most analysts expected it to be with three ties and three lead changes, and with the third tie sending it to overtime for only the second time an OT game has been played in a Bowl Game since the CIF re-instituted state championships in football in 2006.
After overcoming a 28-14 deficit with less the a minute left in the third quarter Cathedral Catholic-San Diego got a 20-yard field goal from Liam King on the Dons first possession in overtime to pull out an amazing 38-35 victory over St. Mary’s-Stockton to capture the CIF Division 1-A Bowl Game Championship on Friday night at Hornets Stadium on the campus of Sacramento State University.
Cathedral Catholic (15-0) now goes to 2-0 in CIF Bowl Games after a 37-34 victory over the same St. Mary’s team in the 2008 Division II game in Carson.
“When I looked up at the scoreboard at the end I almost thought it was the same score as the last game,” Cathedral Catholic Coach Sean Doyle said. “The way this game ended I’m almost at a loss for words; just a lot of special players.”
Obviously after his boot King qualifies as a special player but there definitely were others in this game, and 6-0, 170-pound senior quarterback Tate Haynes, 6-1, 175-pound running back Shawn Poma came up with huge games and plays, and on defense it was 6-0, 190-pound senior defensive back Morrison Mirer (54-yard Interception TD, 12 tackles, two for loss) that led the way.
Dual-threat QB Tate Haynes finished 18-for-28 for 318 yards and three touchdowns, and although he was sacked three times his legs got him out of trouble more than once and he still finished with 45 yards rushing. Poma had 70 yards rushing and also caught two passes for 86 yards, including a 77-yard TD pass from Haynes that tied the score at 28-28 with 2:15 left in the fourth quarter
The margin of victory was the same and the final score was just as close as the 2008 game but this contest had its own twists and turns.
NorCal 1-A champion St. Mary’s got huge games from 6-2, 190-pound senior quarterback Jake Dunniway (31-for-46 for 411 yards and four TDs) and 5-11, 214-pound junior running back Dusty Frampton 33 carries for 169 yards and one TD), and solid efforts from wide receivers Marcus Aponte (10 catches for 126 yards and two TDs), Dewey Cotton (12 catches for 123 yards and two TDs) and Tre Jenkins, but their efforts fell short.
One of the biggest factors in the outcome was when Frampton got knocked out of the game in the late fourth quarter with an arch problem and did not return. Without him Rams Coach Tony Franks didn’t have a running game to seal the deal in the last three minutes.
St. Mary’s (14-2) led 14-6 after one quarter and Cathedral Catholic fought back to tie it at 14-14 when the teams went to the locker room at halftime. From there, however, is where the fireworks got started.
The NorCal 1-A champion Rams looked like they were going to take control in the third quarter. After holding the Dons on their first possession to open the second half St. Mary’s went on a 16-play, 92-yard drive that culminated in a 10-yard TD pass from Dunniway to Jenkins that was followed by a 14-yard run to paydirt by Frampton that made it a two touchdown game with 58 seconds left in the third quarter.
Cathedral Catholic came right back with a 12-play, 69-yard drive of its own that cut the deficit to 28-21 with 9:22 left to play.
A sack of Haynes that forced a fumble St. Mary’s recovered at the Cathedral Catholic 35-yard line was an opportunity that went totally awry. Frampton ran for six, five and three yards to get it to the Dons 22-yard line, but on that run was when he3 got hurt. Dunniway ran for two yards and then threw an incomplete pass, and rather than go for a field goal Franks went for it on Fourth-and-five but Dunniway’s pass fell incomplete and Cathedral Catholic took over on downs at their own 20-yard line.
Two plays later Haynes hit Poma on the 77-yarder that tied it at 28-apiece and the Dons were right back in the game. Fortunes really turned for Cathedral Catholic when two plays after the ensuing kickoff Morrison Mirer put the Dons up 35-28 when he stepped in front of a Rams wide receiver and raced 54-yards to paydirt with 1:30 remaining.
Still, the Rams would not go away. All Dunniway needed after the kickoff was two plays and he found a streaking Jenkins for a 70-yard TD and things were knotted at 35-35.
Haynes fumbled again and after getting the sack that forced the previous fumble Jordan Stinhilver recovered this one but although St. Mary’s got inside the red zone time expired and the game went to overtime.
St. Mary’s got it first and without Frampton relied on Dunniway to run the ball and on fourth-and-goal from the one Cathedral Catholic stuffed him setting up Kings’s field goal.
“We’ve been resilient all year and our kids have always played to the very end,” Doyle said. “Like in previous games it didn’t seem to bother them when they wre down.”
It would seem to make sense that it takes tremendous resiliency and perseverance to go undefeated and Cathedral Catholic is now in that group of unblemished Bowl Game champions.
Franks had told Prep2Prep for the 1-AA preview feature that he felt the game would come down to the last play but he had obviously hoped his Rams would be on the winning side.
“I was hoping for eight or nine overtimes,” said a melancholy Franks. “It came right down to the end and beyond but it just wasn’t to be for us but winning a NorCal championship and everything we accomplished made it an incredible season.”
Note: The first overtime game was actually the very first game under the re-instituted football Bowl Games. In 2006 Oaks Christian-Westlake Village was a 27-20 OT winner over Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa in the old format Division III game when that game kicked off the festivities that year in Carson.
