Cate football won its third straight contest to wrap up the regular season, taking down rival Thacher 33-8 on Saturday.
The win pushed the Rams to 3-3 on the year and earned them a CIF-SS Division 1 playoff berth in 8-man football. They’ll travel to 7-1 Flintridge Prep on Friday.
“What a great end to the regular season for us,” Cate coach David Soto said. “Beating your rival is always great, but to do it on a hot day on the road makes this one extra sweet. I’m so proud of the improvement this group has made throughout the year.”
The first quarter was a defensive battle, as both defenses made clutch stops and forced turnovers.
The back-and-forth play continued in the second quarter, with the lone first-half score coming on a 10-yard touchdown pass from Cate’s Quinn Pullen to Cody Mast to give the Rams a 7-0 lead heading into halftime.
The Cate offense then found its rhythm in the third quarter, scoring a pair of touchdowns thanks to a 14-yard pitch and catch by Pullen and Tyler Martinez and a 24-yard touchdown pass from Pen Brooks to Jacob Gabbay on a trick play.
The Rams entered the fourth quarter with a 21-0 lead.
They kept it rolling in the final quarter with two more scores off of a 25-yard pass from Pullen that found Ethan Rhenborg and a 13-yard scamper by Josh Butler to wrap up the scoring and secure the 33-8 win.
Defensively, Cate shut down the Toads all game long. Johnny Foster, Henry Bouma, Barron Crayton, Kristian Scurits, Riley Valente, Mast and Martinez all made impacts on the defensive side of the ball.
“This was truly a team effort today, especially on the defensive side of the ball,” Soto said. “Our defense knew they were going to be up against a very physical and very talented Thacher offense and they answered the call tremendously.”