CHS jumped out to a two-score lead three minutes into the ball
game before Sobrato unleashed a barrage via air and turf, scoring
six unanswered touchdowns to get by the Cougars 40-26 on Saturday
night at Live Oak’s Richert Field in Morgan Hill.
The first three minutes were in-tune with what Christopher High had in mind entering its season opener against Sobrato.
The final score, however, didn’t follow the same script.
CHS jumped out to a two-score lead three minutes into the ball game before Sobrato unleashed a barrage via air and turf, scoring six unanswered touchdowns to get by the Cougars 40-26 on Saturday night at Live Oak’s Richert Field in Morgan Hill.
“It started exactly how we had hoped the game would start,” CHS coach Tim Pierleoni said. “That’s a good football team right there. They aren’t going to lay down.”
Pierleoni’s intuition was correct.
After quickly falling behind 12-0 with 8:23 left in the first quarter the Bulldogs began a meticulous and disciplined climb out of the two-score hole.
“We talked about that every day this week. They are a very talented team. We knew they could easily come out and punch us in the face,” Sobrato coach Nick Borello said. “We told the guys, if that happens, we will weather the storm, keep our heads and make adjustments.”
With its star fullback Obi Mbonu held in check by a quick CHS defense, Sobrato turned to its other weapons to ignite the offense.
Quarterback Jerry Jacob and receiver Steven Villarreal produced a pair of big gainers, the most lucrative a 36-yard strike down the right sideline to cut into the deficit.
“It kind of worked us up,” Villarreal said of the score.
Following a CHS punt, Jacob and Villarreal were in-sync once more, dialing up another deep connection, this time for 53 yards and the lead, 13-12.
“It opened our eyes, like, ‘yeah, we have the lead. Let’s keep going,'” Villarreal said. “It was like, ‘we got this, we can do this. We got the confidence and the momentum.'”
Jacob finished the night 7-of-11 for 163 yards and the two scores.
Derrick Taylor had his number called on the Bulldogs next possession, gobbling up 40 of the drive’s 54 yards, including a 1-yard plunge across the goal line to increase the lead to 20-12.
Running back Drew Glines made it 27-12 on a 6-yard sweep into the end zone, capping a 16-play, 5:24 drive just before halftime.
“You have to give them credit,” Pierleoni said. “We stuffed them up early and they made some adjustments on their sweeps and started getting the edge on us.”
Anthony Villarreal’s 60-yard kickoff return to open the second half set up the Bulldogs inside Cougars’ territory and five plays later, Glines made it 34-12, bounding 18 yards around the corner for the touchdown.
“We did a good job on (Mbonu),” Pierleoni said. “They have some good weapons. We have to shore up our defense a little bit.”
Mbonu, who was held to just 69 yards on 17 carries, had his turn in the end zone, taking a toss right from 3-yards out to put Sobrato up 40-12.
The Bulldogs churned out 207 yards on the ground in the contest.
CHS made some noise in the fourth quarter against the Bulldogs second-team defense, scoring twice in big-play fashion.
Quarterback Brandon Pickens (14-of-36, 277 yards, 3TDs INT), who was effective in his debut running the Cougars’ new-look spread offense, found receiver Bryant Cid on a crossing pattern for a 40-yard score with 6:28 to play in the fourth. Pickens also led Marcus Harrell into the flat with a soft swing pass and let the speedy receiver do the rest of the work as he zigzagged 48 yards to tighten the gap with one second left in the game.
“That is a playoff team,” Pierleoni said. “It was a great test for us.”
Before Sobrato flipped the switch, Christopher needed just four plays to cover 80 yards on its opening possession of the game, taking a 6-0 lead after Pickens hit a wide-open Cid at the end of a seam route in the back of the end zone.
After a quick Sobrato three-and-out on its initial drive, Harrell took Shawn Henner’s punt on one hop at the 29-yard line and dashed 71 yards to pay dirt, building the short-lived 12-0 advantage.
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