OAKLAND, Calif. -- A year after the Encinal Jets moved out of the WACC Foothill division, they found themselves facing the defending league champion Bishop O’Dowd Dragons in the NCS quarterfinals.
The Dragons were coming off of a dominant win in the first round against the Terra Linda Trojans by the final score of 56-14, while Encinal was coming off a big win in their own playoff game, when they beat the Petaluma Trojans 47-6. This week, they would meet face to face at Bishop O’Dowd, where the Dragons defeated the Jets by a final score of 28-0.
Bishop O'Dowd was led on offense by sophomore runningback Austin Jones. Jones carried the ball 24 times for 46 yards and a touchdown. His lone score came on a nine yard touchdown rush early in the fourth quarter. Jones was helped by senior quarterback Joe Deluca, who completed seven of 10 passes for 113 yards and two touchdowns. His first was a 29 yard pass to Quinn Brinnon with 3:47 left to go in the second quarter. It would take him just over three minutes to find the end zone again, this time on a 20 yard pass to Jevon Holland.
Meanwhile, the Dragons' defense picked up its third shutout of the season. Bishop O'Dowd forced 4 turnovers, including three fumbles. The first was forced by Avery Bilensky, and recovered Chris Lucas. The second was forced by Kenyan Branscomb Jr, and recoved by Cooper Hagmier late in the third quarter, and the third occurred when Theori Oliver fumbled the snap late in the fourth quarter, which was recovered by Chris Lucas. The lone Interception of the game came from Jevon Holland, who also added a 50-yard punt return for a touchdown and a 20-yard touchdown reception.
“We come together everytime to get this 'W'," Holland said. “We have a strong front-seven and our secondary is lock-down. I love playing on this defense. It's great.”
Napoleaon Kaufman is now in the NCS semifinals for the second time in his three-year tenure as Bishop O’Dowd head coach. With a current record of 11-1 on the campaign this year, he was ecstatic about the win this week.
“The kids have worked extremely hard, the coaches have done a great job preparing the kids," Kaufman said. "The guys are just executing. I’m really, really happy.”
Meanwhile on the other side of the ball, Encinal struggled with getting much started offensive side of the ball. Brandon Duckett rushed the ball 11 times for just 18 yards. If that wasn’t enough trouble for the Jets' offense, Oliver did not have much success against the Dragons' defense. Oliver rushed the ball 12 times, but lost a net of nine yards. He threw the ball seven times, only completing one pass for 7 yards.
Encinal head coach Ricky Rodriguez thought his team could have done a better job on penalties and not hurting themselves.
“We committed way too many turnovers, and you know our offense wasn’t clicking today," he said. "They outplayed us. Hats off to them. Coach Kaufman has a great program over here and I wish him the best of luck for the rest of the year.”
