KENTFIELD, Calif. – Host and CIF Northern Regional champion Marin Catholic used a combination of special teams, defense, and the arms and legs of Michael Ingrassia to post a convincing 33-14 victory over Central Valley Christian-Visalia and earn a state CIF Division 4-AA Bowl Game title.
With the Saturday afternoon triumph Marin Catholic (14-1) captured the first state championship in school history after the 2009 team lost in the Division III title game, 24-20 to Serra-Gardena, and the 2012 team, with current Detroit Lions quarterback Jared Goff, lost in the D3 championship, 38-35 to Madison-San Diego.
Ingrassia, a 6-foot-1, 205-pound senior quarterback, completed a 31-yard TD pass to junior JR Bosch that gave Marin Catholic a 14-0 halftime lead. After the Wildcats got the second half kickoff, Ingrassia orchestrated a 9-play, 87-yard drive that culminated when he took it in on a 1-yard plunge to make it 20-0 Marin Catholic.
The lead got to 26-0 when Ingrassia hooked up with sophomore Charles Williams for a 26-0 lead, but in reality it was two pick-sixes that keyed the program’s first state championship.
The first interception return for a TD opened the scoring when sophomore linebacker Zach Taylor took a tipped pass 53-yards to the house late in the first quarter to give Marin Catholic a 7-0 lead. The second pick six came when senior Charlie Knapp snagged the second of his two interceptions in the game and galloped 76-yards to pay dirt for the Wildcats final tally and a 33-0 lead with 2:14 left in the third quarter.
The Marin Catholic defense continued to pitch a shutout until there was only 6:47 left, and by that time the starters were out and Wildcats head coach Mazi Moayed was trying to get all the seniors into the game.
Central Valley Christian (11-5) finally scored when quarterback Max Bakker found Chapman Dunn on a 28-yard TD pass and they scored again with 1:19 remaining when Josh Souza scored on a 3-yard run.
Souza, the Cavaliers rushing leader, could only muster 45 yards on the ground. The entire Central Valley Christian team only had 131 yards of total offense with 99 of it coming on the game’s final drive when things had long been decided.
“Our defense did an incredible job today,” Moayed remarked. “They really stepped up against a very good team.”
We had two pick-sixes and the first one set the tone,” Moayed continued. “It gave us a lot of life and energy and we just fed off that.”
When it came to Ingrassia, Moayed summed it up pretty succinctly. “Michael has been incredible all year long. That’s why we’re here.”
“This has been a dream of mine since I was very young,” Ingrassia said. “Ever since youth football I’ve always dreamed of coming to Marin Catholic and being able to win a state championship – and that’s what just happened.”
Ingrassia passed for 168 yards and the two TDs and finishes his senior season with 2,881 yards and 36 TDs with only two interceptions, with both coming last week in the NorCal title game win over Escalon. His 136.3 quarterback rating was tops in the NCS.
