The Bishop Diego Cardinals came up six inches short of a walk-off win in the season opener, as Foothill High came up with the clutch goal-line stop to preserve a 31-28 non-league win on Saturday at La Playa Stadium.
With the Cardinals down by three with three minutes to go, sophomore quarterback Tua Rojas needed to guide his offense 80 yards for the victory.
After a big third-down completion to junior Nick Malesky gained 13 yards, the offense started to gain momentum. Rojas followed that up with a 10-yard run of his own and back-to-back completions for 14 and 11 yards to junior Isaiah Kitt and sophomore Gabe Villa, respectively.
Following a defensive pass interference, Bishop Diego had the ball at Foothill’s 14-yard line. Villa ripped off runs of nine and two yards to get the ball down to the 3-yard line.
Villa was then stopped for no gain before fighting for two yards to the goal line with seven seconds left.
On the final play, Rojas handed it back to Villa and he was met by a wall of Knight defenders to end the game.
“I thought we had run the ball well up inside the tackles,” head coach Tom Crawford said of the final plays. “I have a lot of confidence in our guys and we work real hard to get those six inches.
“I will probably play that over in my head a lot in terms of how else we could have done it, but give (Foothill) credit, it was a nice defensive stand.”
In terms of attempting a field goal to send the game into overtime, Crawford said it was never a thought on the Cardinals’ sideline.
“We were going to try to score right there,” Crawford said. “Nobody was interested in trying to kick the field goal to tie it.”
Bishop Diego had won 11 straight season openers before Saturday’s heartbreaking loss.
Leading up to the dramatic ending, the game was a back-and-forth affair all night long.
The Cardinals got on the board first in their opening drive of the season. Rojas found Malesky for a 21-yard touchdown strike to go up 7-0 with 7:06 left in the first quarter.
In his first varsity action at quarterback, Rojas completed 12-of-17 pass attempts for 182 yards and a touchdown. He added 29 yards on the ground.
“Tua did a wonderful job of controlling the game and making some plays with his feet as well as with his arm,” Crawford said. “He kept his composure throughout, so that was a nice opening game for a sophomore quarterback.”
Malesky, meanwhile, ended the night with four catches for 50 yards and a touchdown.
After the two teams traded punts, Foothill drove down the field and scored early in the second quarter on a deep touchdown pass from senior quarterback Nicholas Miali to wide receiver Nico Mancini that went for 37 yards down the right sideline
When Bishop Diego couldn’t respond in its next drive, Miali decided to do it by himself in the ensuing Foothill drive. He broke loose on a 55-yard rushing touchdown to give his team its first lead of the game at 14-7 with 4:25 to go in the half.
The Cardinals answered as Rojas found sophomore Ian Bartley for 29 yards on the first play of the drive before six straight run plays, ending with a 2-yard score from Villa, The PAT tied the score at 14 with two minutes remaining in the half.
Villa, who assumed the starting running back role with senior and All-Marmonte First Team player Misa Paiau sidelined due to an injury, racked up 103 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries. He also caught two passes for 24 yards.
“We recognized that this was going to end up being an opportunity game for a lot of our running backs,” Crawford said. “I thought that guys ran hard and some guys showed some promise.”
According to Crawford, the team will know more about Paiau’s status going forward early next week.
A potential comeback drive from Foothill before the half ended was thwarted Kitt, who jumped a route and came up with the first interception of the season for the Cardinals.
Coming out of halftime, it was clear that Bishop Diego made adjustments. The line opened a massive hole for sophomore running back Jaison Lotu and he scampered 45 yards down the field. Rojas then floated a 35-yard touchdown pass behind the defense to junior Dominic Herrera for a 21-14 lead.
Foothill came right back, with Miali and Mancini connecting once again for a 19-yard touchdown pass with 8:37 left in the third quarter. That capped a 10-play drive and knotted the score.
“Their quarterback did a really nice job of delivering,” Crawford said of Miali’s performance. “The kid is a nice thrower and he made some big throws.”
After seven straight run plays on the next Bishop Diego drive, Rojas dropped back and completed a pass to Villa for 23 yards to put the Cardinals at the 4-yard line.
They turned to Villa once again, and he converted his second touchdown of the game to put the Cardinals 28-21 with 2:30 remaining in the third.
Foothill was once again in the red zone with first and goal from the 7-yard line. However, the Bishop Diego defense dug in and forced the Knights to take a field goal, which they converted to cut the lead to 28-24 in the fourth quarter.
The next Cardinal drive was looking promising after a 12-yard run by Kitt left his team with a third and 1 near the middle of the field. However, a fumbled pitch in the backfield lost yardage and Bishop was forced to punt with 7:39 to go in the game.
“There were some first-game things that you hope aren’t going to show up but they did show up,” Crawford said.
Foothill took full advantage, as Miali fired passes around the field. The senior completed four passes on the drive and evaded a pair of sacks on one play.
The 10-play drive was capped off by a 2-yard touchdown pass to senior Connor Pietras, giving the Knights the 31-28 lead with three minutes left.
Rojas and the Cardinals’ offense then got 79 of the 80 needed yards for a game-winning score, falling just short.
Despite the loss, the young Cardinal team with just two seniors on the roster showed plenty of upside going forward.
“There were some real positives,” Crawford said. “You don’t really know how some guys are going to perform before they’re going full speed for 48 minutes and I was real pleased with some of the guys.”
Bishop Diego will look to bounce back in a matchup with Mission Prep on Friday at La Playa Stadium at 7 p.m.
