Cate fell to defending CIF-SS 8-man football champions Mojave at home on Saturday 38-19 in the final chapter of a strong season.
The Rams (7-4) matched up well with the Mustangs (8-2) and held a 13-12 lead midway through the second quarter, but Mojave turned on the jets in the second half, outscoring Cate 20-7.
After falling behind 6-0 in the first quarter, the Rams responded with a 13-yard run by Drew Anastasio to take a 7-6 lead. Mojave responded quickly, but so did Cate, as quarterback Jack Deardoff found Cal Sinclair for a 65-yard score to regain the lead 13-12.
The Mustangs would score again with less than a minute in the half to take an 18-13 lead into the break.
The only third quarter score came from Mojave on a 13-yard touchdown pass. After Cate fell behind 31-13 due to another Mojave touchdown, the Rams showed some heart and scrapped their way into the end zone on a 1-yard run from Deardorff. Cate wouldn’t get any closer and a long Mojave touchdown run put the game out of reach.
“It’s never easy to end a season,” explained Cate head coach Dave Soto. “It’s going to end like this for all but one team and it’s still sad to see it come to a close. I’m so proud of the effort our guys put forth all year. The hope is that our guys can take away lessons beyond football as they grow older.”
— Noozhawk sports reporter Christian Eckert can be reached at ceckert@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports and @noozhawk. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.