ROHNERT PARK, Calif. – Five games into the 2019 season and after having his carries limited, it was only a matter of time before Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa Coach Paul Cronin decided to call on junior running back Shane Moran to step up and prove his prowess as a running back, and that’s exactly what happened in game six on Friday night against arch rival and host Rancho Cotate.
Moran, a 5-10, 185-pound junior two-sport star that has committed to Long Beach State for baseball as a catcher, caught some wind in his sails running the ball against Rancho Cotate after rushing for a career-high 18 carries and 134 yards with one touchdown in a 24-14 victory in a North Bay League – Oak Division opener for both teams.
For Moran, it was the second-straight year he victimized Rancho Cotate. Prior to Friday night his career high was 129 yards rushing in last year’s 42-21 victory over the Cougars only in that game he rushed for three touchdowns on 12 carries.
Becoming the workhorse again did not come as a surprise to the soft-spoken Moran, yet he refused to take a lot of credit.
“They told me early in the week I was going to get more carries so I knew what was coming,” said Moran, who also had a pass interception in the second half that led to a touchdown. “But it still wasn’t my game, it was the team’s game, the blocking of the line and this guy, he’s a stud.”
This guy Moran was referring to is quarterback Jackson Pavitt. The 6-2, 193-pound Pavitt took everything Rancho Cotate threw at him but never buckled. He was hit hard all night, sacked twice, including one that led to a disputed fumble, but he still hard 17 carries and got a hard-earned 50 yards rushing and one touchdown. Pavitt also passed for 115 yards and a touchdown.
“With the way Shane was pounding the ball I can honestly say I really didn’t feel the hits,” Pavitt said with a grin.
“The ground game worked tonight,” said Newman Coach Paul Cronin. “One of our goals in league was developing our run game because we didn’t have a lot of run game in the non-league season.”
“Moran definitely got some hard yards,” continued Cronin. “He’s a guy we know, and there are so many games we didn’t want to over-carry him early in the year because it’s a lot of pounding, but we wanted to establish our ground game and we thought tonight would be a night where he could touch the ball a lot, so we told him on Monday he was going to touch the ball a ton tonight.”
Cardinal Newman (5-1, 1-0 NBL – Oak) deferred on the opening kickoff and then proceeded to commit five offside penalties in the Rancho Cotate opening drive, but after the Cougars went 14 plays in the drive a 31-yard field goal attempt went wide right and despite the Cardinals snafus the hosts were unable to cash in on them.
On the ensuing Newman possession Pavitt scored on a 3-yard keeper, and then Rancho Cotate quarterback Jared Stocker (75 yards passing, one TD) answered with a 25-yard TD pass to Jack Reese to make it 7-6 Newman, but even after Cardinals kicker Ethan Kollenborn booted home a 43-yard field goal at the end of the first half, the Cougars only trailed 10-6 and were still in the hunt.
The third quarter, however, was all Cardinal Newman.
The Cardinals drive to open the second half stalled, but on the second play after Rancho Cotate received a punt, Moran got his interception on a tipped pass at the Cougars 42 yard line. Cronin then gave Moran the ball and he went for eight yards, he got it again and only gained a yard, but on his third straight carry the Rancho Cotate defense couldn’t stop him and Moran broke four tackles and rumbled 33-yards to pay dirt and it was 17-6 Newman.
Rancho Cotate could only get one first down on the ensuing possession and after Newman received a punt, Pavitt directed an 8-play 63-yard drive that culminated in a 33-yard TD pass to Giancarlo Woods, who also blocked a PAT in the first half, and Newman had a 24-6 lead with 1:43 left in the third quarter.
Rancho Cotate (3-3, 0-1) did show some heart at the end and finished the game on an 11-play, 73 yard drive with running back Rasheed Rankin (21 carries, 115 yards rushing, one TD) taking it in from 1-yard out from the wildcat formation, but at that point it only made things look more respectable and gave Cougars Coach Gehrig Hotaling something positive to talk about in the post game huddle at midfield.
“You guys showed so much heart and pride tonight, especially on that final drive,” Hotaling told the team. “I’m not going to quit on you guys so don’t quit on yourselves. We may have let the league championship slip away but there’s a bigger championship on the horizon.”
Cardinal Newman may have won the game but Cronin knows there is still a lot of work left to do to make some big noise in the playoffs.
“The positive tonight is how hard the kids played,” Cronin remarked. “You’re not playing well and you can feel it, you’re kind of in quicksand, but the way out of it is just playing hard and that’s what they did a great job of.”
“Was it perfect, no, but their effort really picked us up,” continued Cronin. “We’ve got to get cleaner and we’ll work on that.”
With about as tough a schedule as any D4 level school now behind them it would be the upset of the decade if any North Bay League – Oak opponent were to beat Cardinal Newman in the next four weeks. Next up is a home game with Ukiah on Friday night.
Rancho Cotate now goes into its final four games before the playoffs in need of finding more offense. We will find out if they will starting this Friday on the road at Windsor.
