BERKELEY - J’Kazee Dorrough ran in a 92 yard touchdown on San Leandro’s first play of the game, setting the tone for a 14-6 road win for the Pirates over the Berkeley Yellow Jackets, in which San Leandro gained 208 yards on the ground.
“I think scoring early gave us some fire,” said Dorrough. “It just made us play and work harder the rest of the game so we could keep the lead and hopefully make our play into playoffs.”
Although Berkeley (0-10, 0-5 West Alameda) punter Brett Hom pinned San Leandro (5-5, 4-1 West Alameda) at the eight yard line, Dorrough was able to break free and beat the Berkeley defense as he ran down the sideline to put the Pirates up 6-0 just two minutes in, as they missed the point after.
Berkeley controlled the ball for almost the entire second quarter, slowly driving the ball to the San Leandro 16 yard line. With 40 seconds left in the half, the Berkeley field goal attempt was blocked by a pair of San Leandro players. On the next play, the Pirates again scored on a long rushing touchdown, this time by a 84 yard score by Enoch Ampofo. The half ended with San Leandro up 12-0 after again missing the extra point.
“We executed most of our plays in the first half,” said Dorrough. “Did our jobs well, gave us a good boost early that we didn’t lose.”
San Leandro started with the ball in the second half, but Berkeley was able to force a fumble at midfield. However, the Pirate defense stalled the Yellow Jackets, as the teams exchanged punts into the fourth quarter. The first scoring play came when a snap sailed over Hom’s head on an attempted punt, as the San Leandro defense forced him to run out of the endzone - the safety increased the Pirate lead to 14-0 with eight minutes remaining.
After the Berkeley punt, San Leandro appeared to seal the game when Ampofo ran into the endzone, but a pre-snap penalty brought the offense out of field goal range, giving Berkeley the ball back with four minutes left in the game.
Quarterback Jaleal Williams-Evans led a late rally for Berkeley, driving from the Berkeley 20-yard line to the Berkeley nine yard line facing a fourth-and-one. Williams-Evans’ nine yard touchdown run was called back due to penalty, but a 19-yard pass from him to running back Carl Penney put the Yellow Jackets on the board with 70 seconds remaining.
“It was too little, too late,” said Williams-Evans. “Proud of that last drive though - we never gave up.”
Hom’s onside kick bounced off a San Leandro returner, as Berkeley momentarily gained possession, but the Pirates eventually jumped on it, sealing the victory.
Dorrough and Ampofo had 118 and 93 rushing yards for San Leandro, respectively, along with their touchdown apiece. Quarterback Cameron Stanley also threw for 58 yards. The Pirates await a playoff decision, finishing second in league play after Encinal (7-3, 3-2) fell short to Bishop O’Dowd (8-2, 5-0).
For Berkeley, Williams-Evans had 52 rushing yards in addition to throwing the late touchdown pass. Anthony Carter also contributed 41 yards. They go winless on the season after losing a close game to Piedmont last week, also 14-6.
SCORING SUMMARY
SL - Dorrough 92 yd run
SL - Ampofo 84 yd run
SL - Safety
B - Williams-Evans 19 yd pass to Penney
PLAYER STATS
San Leandro
Rushing: Dorrough 7-118-1, Ampofo 4-93-1, Total 24-208-2
Passing: Stanley 3-14-58
Receiving: Cobbs 3-58
Berkeley
Rushing: Williams-Evans 11-52, Carter 11-41, Penney 8-21, Total 37-171
Passing: Williams-Evans 2-18-27-1
Receiving: Penney 1-19-1
