With 30 seconds remaining in the first half, the Cathedral Catholic Dons lined up at the 24-yard line, looking to come back and score after a touchdown by the Mission Hills Grizzlies. After the snap, quarterback Tate Haynes shot back and passed to tight end Patrick Brown as he ran down the center of the field, into the end zone for the Dons’ third touchdown of the night.
Cathedral Catholic went on to defeat Mission Hills 44-21 in the semifinals of the San Diego Section Open Division bracket.
In the first minute of the second half, strong safety Matt Stuppiello intercepted a Grizzly pass to run 33 yards in the opposite direction before being stopped at the 6-yard line. A short throw from Haynes to running back Adam Eastwood in the left corner of the end zone brought the Dons up to 27-7, giving them a crucial lead to help maintain control of the game.
“Personally, I started off kind of slow in the first half — my decision-making just wasn’t that great,” Haynes said. “But at half-time, we regrouped … Defense had a big stop, [we] put the ball in the end zone, and from there we were rolling.”
Six minutes into the third quarter, an easy 5-yard pass from Mission Hills quarterback Jack Tuttle to tight end Ian Fryday closed the score slightly, but was countered two minutes later by a booming 64-yard run by Cathedral Catholic running back Shawn Poma and a touchdown by Eastwood. The Dons were then able to squeeze in another touchdown within 20 seconds of the end of the third quarter, with Haynes passing to wide receiver Jack Thompson.
“I had guys making plays for me all night,” Haynes said. “Our offensive line did a great job blocking, and we got it done.”
Cathedral Catholic’s win marks their 12th straight victory this season, still going undefeated into the CIF championship game next week against second seed Helix.
“Our kids are pretty focused right now, and they have a goal that they want to reach,” head coach Sean Doyle said. “They first goal was league, and we got that. The second was CIF, and you have to get there before you can get it, so this was a big game for them.”
The Dons take on the Highlanders at Southwestern College at 7 p.m. Friday. The two teams played each other earlier in the season, with Cathedral Catholic taking the victory by just one touchdown and coming back from being behind by two in the first quarter.