Cate rallied from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter, but visiting Mojave reclaimed the lead in the final six minutes and held off the Rams, 34-32 in an 8-man football opener on Saturday.
The game pitted two CIF-SS Division 1 semifinalists from last year.
Jack Deardorff came in at quarterback in the second half for Cate and passed for three touchdowns to spark the the comeback. The Rams trailed 28-18 in the fourth quarter.
Drew Anastasio ran the ball well and scored his first touchdown and Pierce Lundt, Chase McCaw and Will Bowlin also played well on offense, said coach Ben Soto.
The defense, led by Luke Beckman at middle linebacker and Henry Dawson on the line, kept the game close despite poor field position. Lundt had a fumble recover.
“I thought we did a lot of good things today. For a pretty young squad to battle tough against a very good Mojave team, shows how much potential we have,” said Soto. “We will continue to clean up the little mistakes and hope this game can be a building block for us moving forward.”
Cate is off until Friday, Sept. 16 at Coast Union.
— Noozhawk sports editor Barry Punzal can be reached at bpunzal@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk Sports on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.