It was a good old-fashioned slugfest Friday night between Sobrato and Piedmont Hills. The Bulldogs ran away with a 59-53 win and picked up momentum heading into Saturday’s Central Coast Section playoff game.
The final regular season game was the most points the Bulldogs (7-3, 5-2 league) have scored this year and the most they have given up. It was the second most points the Bulldogs have ever scored – they won 60-0 in 2009.
“We thought that it could be a shootout,” said Sobrato coach Nick Borello, who managed to dodge the first bucket of ice water thrown on him in celebration after the game but not the second. “We were not great against the pass. We thought if we could get a few stops, we would have a chance. We knew they were going to score and we were going to score. They are a young team, but they gave us everything they had.”
Sobrato earned the the No. 2 seed in the Division III bracket and faces No. 7 Archbishop Riordan (3-7) in the first round of the CCS playoffs at 7 p.m. Saturday at Live Oak. It will be the first-ever home playoff game for the Bulldogs. Sobrato has never won a playoff game.
The Pirates (4-6, 3-4 league), needing a victory to qualify for the playoffs, threw all they had into the game. Pirate quarterback Anthony McBride was 13 for 27 for 270 yards and had touchdown completions of 24 yards, 18 yards and 12 yards.
“It is a real change playing a team that throws the ball and stops the clock,” said senior Dresden Redfield. “It is fun having that new diversity.”
Despite the prevalent scoring, a series of fluke plays gave the Bulldogs what proved to be the game winning drive in the fourth quarter.
Holding on to a 52-46 edge, the Bulldogs marched down the field after Andrew Mesa recovered the Pirate on-side kickoff attempt. The Bulldogs nearly fumbled the ball on a run but recovered. Miquel Redmond converted a first down to keep the drive alive. Three plays later, the Bulldogs appeared to have picked up another first down after a run by quarterback Michael Bocksnick. But he was marked just short of the marker. Rather than keeping the ball on the ground on fourth down, Bocksnick found Isaiah Hardy for what turned out to be a 35-yard touchdown reception with 4:19 left.
“It was kind of dumb luck,” Borello said. “We thought Michael when he scrambled on the previous play had run way past the first-down marker. We thought he had the first so we thought we’d take a shot at the end zone. We went up and we were about to snap the ball, and we’re like ‘does that say fourth down? Why aren’t the chains moving?’”
Piedmont Hill wasn’t done and returned the kickoff 70 yards with 4:04 left in the game – the Pirates’ second of the night.
On the following drive, Bocksnick got in on special teams action and made a fair catch at the Bulldog 15-yard line, not wanting to risk being injured. Redmond picked up three first down runs, and Andrew Mesa had an 8-yard carry to help the Bulldogs run down the clock.
Mesa, who was playing running back for the first time since preseason, ran for 21 yards on four carries.
“I was a little worried that I wouldn’t remember the plays, but coach kept it simple and I kept going,” said Mesa, who switched from defense to offense in the second half after Calvin Tipton had to leave with a hand injury. “The adrenalin just kicks in and you are in the zone and you got to focus.”
Bocksnick completed was 9 for 18 for 215 yards with three touchdowns and carried the ball 15 times for 228 yards and had touchdown runs of 39 yards and 81 yards. Redmond ran for 165 yards on 19 carries and had touchdown runs of 12 yards and 5 yards.
“Our O-line was getting a big push and the backs were finding the holes,” said junior tackle Karl Mann. “In practice we worked on staying on our blocks and playing until the whistle and our backs made it work.”
With the exception of the final drive that ended as time expired, each team had just one defensive stop in the second half.
The Bulldogs made a stand at the end of the third quarter. Redmond came close to picking off two errant Piedmont Hills passes. Corner back JoJo Nunn drew an offensive pass interference call that negated what would have been about a 30-yard reception. On fourth down, Nick Hardy rushed the quarterback to force a turnover on downs.
Sobrato took its first lead at 16-13 with 6:08 left in the second quarter after a safety and a 39-yard run by Bocksnick.
Redfield pressured the quarterback in the end zone and forced him to throw the ball up in the air.
“I just knew that I had to read the play like coach told us,” Redfield said. “What coaches tell you is true. I didn’t realize what was happening until it was done.”
Redmond scored on a 12-yard run with 48 seconds left in the half. But Piedmont’s Dylan Slack ran the ensuing kickoff back 80 yards to draw within 23-19 at the half. The Pirates failed to get two of their three PAT attempts even off the ground in the first half.
The teams traded touchdowns on the opening drives on 2-yard runs, Jalen Williams scored for the Pirates, and Tipton answered for the Bulldogs.
“We had emotions going into the game because of Senior Night,” said Isaiah Hardy, who was sporting pink socks in tribute to a person at his church with cancer. “We still got work to do before CCS.”
