CAMPBELL, CA — Holding a commanding 17-point lead in the fourth quarter over Leland, Christopher was minutes away from earning its first Central Coast Section title. The Chargers were driving down the field, but quarterback Carson Yates’ pass fell into the arms of senior linebacker Ethan Crawford, who came up with his second interception of the night and cemented Christopher’s first CCS championship game victory, a 24-7 win over the Chargers.
The two teams exchanged punts to open the game, and then Christopher had a long drive into the Leland red zone, but could not capitalize on the opportunity with a missed field goal. However, on Leland’s ensuing drive, Crawford picked off Yates and set his offense up in great field position. The Cougars made sure to capitalize on the turnover, scoring on the first play of the second quarter with a one-yard run by junior running back Tyler Davis. The rest of the first half remained a defensive battle, but the Cougars managed to add a field goal on the board to go into halftime with a 10-0 lead.
The Leland offense came out hot in the second half, opening the third quarter with a 65-yard touchdown run by Yates to cut Christopher’s lead down to 10-7. However, Christopher immediately responded with a 40-yard run by Davis to set up a seven-yard touchdown catch by senior tight end Payton Mitchell to get the Cougars' lead back up to ten points. Junior Christian Davis then intercepted a ball thrown by Yates, which set up a nine-yard touchdown run by Tyler Davis, his second score of the game. Crawford iced the game in the fourth quarter with his interception.
Even when the team was down, Leland leaned heavily on the run game, as they did all season with junior workhorse running back Kyle Anderson. Entering the game, Anderson had 1,952 rushing yards and 21 rushing touchdowns on the season, with an average of 7.3 yards per carry. However, there was little space for him to run in this one, and he only ran for 52 yards on 23 carries against the tough Christopher front seven.
Leland head coach Mike Ward was disappointed with the loss, but was immensely proud of the successful season that the team had.
“We had our game plan on both sides. We just fell short in a couple places. Christopher is an extremely well-coached team and they are a good team. They are in the same spot that we are. They went 1-9 last year. For this turnaround, this is just impressive that both of our programs have met here and it says a lot about our young men and their young men. Christopher is definitely deserving of this. We just fell short. Usually, we go back to the drawing board, but unfortunately there’s no drawing board for this season, so for now, we just take a couple days and soak in the successes that we had this year,” Ward said. “This season was an unbelievable success. This hurts, but you do not go 11-2 and say that your season was a failure. But more importantly than the record or where we fell at the end of the day, these young men bought into something that we were telling them to do, and they turned this program around. They have set this program as seniors on a path that is going to set us up for success for years to come on and off the field. This group of young men is an extremely special group of young men, and not even just as football players. I cannot be prouder to be their head coach, and I told them in the huddle that there is nowhere else I would rather be than right here with them. I will win or lose with them every day of the week over anybody else.”
Christopher also leaned heavily on the run game, but had more success with Davis leading the way, rushing for 155 yards and two touchdowns on 25 carries. The Cougar defense was able to stop Leland from maintaining long drives to get plentiful rest and as a result, fatigue the Leland defense from being on the field for the majority of the game. The defense-heavy gameplan was a key factor in winning the championship for Christopher.
Christopher head coach Tim Pierleoni was proud of his team’s sustained success over the course of the season that led to the championship win.
“This is amazing. It is the result of a lot of hard work from the coaching staff and the kids. There was a lot of hard work and sacrifice. We have all worked extremely hard for this, and it is an awesome feeling. Tonight, we did what we did all year long — playing real hard on defense, and taking what they give us on offense and trying to make first downs on third downs. Our kids have a lot of heart, they run hard to the ball, and they play great defense,” Pierloni said. “We are looking to move up next year and do well in the upper league. Every time up there, it is an adventure. This season is going to springboard us into the next season with a lot of confidence and a lot of kids that know they can win.”
Davis believed that the team’s passion and dedication towards getting the win led them to making their goal come true.
“We just wanted this really bad. Especially after that 1-9 season last year, we just had to do it for our seniors,” Davis said. “We could not let that happen again.”
Both teams’ magical seasons have come to an end, and they will try to build on this year in the off-season to attempt to replicate their success next year.
