A look back at some key action in the quarterfinal round of the North Coast Section playoffs:
Marin Catholic dominates in win over Alhambra
Third-seeded Marin Catholic (9-3) dominated both sides of the line of scrimmage in an impressive 48-9 quarterfinal home victory over Alhambra-Martinez that moves the Wildcats into the NCS Division III semifinals next Saturday afternoon at home against Rancho Cotate-Rohnert Park.
Junior dual-threat quarterback Darius Peterson scored the first two times he carried the ball on runs of 20 and 35 yards. He also threw a 41-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver and backup quarterback Will Buckstaff that helped stake the hosts to a 35-0 halftime lead. Despite only playing two quarters, Peterson passed for 134 yards and rushed for 79 more to go with the three scores.
Buckstaff (123 yards passing, two TDs, one TD rushing) scored three different ways. Besides the TD pass reception, he also scored on a 19-yard second quarter run. Then after replacing Peterson, the junior tossed two TD passes, a 14-yarder to Paul Kunst and a 35-yard strike to Zack Margulis. Kunst also scored on a 21-yard run.
Perhaps the most impressive performance came on defense from Cornell-commit Ryan Kelley. The 6-foot-3, 230-pound defensive end had 20 tackles, three sacks, three other tackles for loss, a forced fumble on one of the sacks that he recovered, two batted passes and four quarterback hurries that were all nearly sacks.
“I brought my game today and everything just clicked for the whole team,” said a smiling Kelley, a transfer from the Boston area who arrived at Marin Catholic over the summer. “We knew Alhambra was a good team so we put in some new packages that got me loose to use my speed.”
Other Marin Catholic contributors included starting running back Nick Gernhard who rushed for 96 yards and also blocked a punt. AJ Michna had a pass interception and blocked a field goal attempt.
Fifth-seed Alhambra (8-4) got both its scores after Marin Catholic subs were inserted, but in the first half when the game was decided the visitors could only muster 100 yards of total offense. For the game quarterback Josh Evans scored the Bulldogs' only TD on a 7-yard keeper, but as a passer he was only 10 of 26 for 74 yards with an interception.
Rancho Cotate stuns Las Lomas
Seventh-seed Rancho Cotate (9-3) went on the road for the second straight week. After taking out Mission Valley League and No. 10 seed Kennedy-Fremont in the opening round, the Cougars went into No. 2 seed Las Lomas-Walnut Creek as a decided underdog and took home a 44-34 upset victory.
Carlos Franco ran for 175 yards and two touchdowns while quarterback Gunner Mefferd and wide receiver Chris Taylor-Yamanoha hooked up on two TD passes.
With the score tied 20-20 with 7:34 remaining in the third quarter the visitors began to take charge. Oscar Nava had a 5-yard TD run that put Cougars ahead by a touchdown. That was followed by a 15-yard pass from Mefferd to Taylor-Yamanoha, a 31-yard field goal by Kevin Nguyen and a 41-yard run by Franco.
Asked about the keys to the upset win Rancho Cotate head coach Ed Conroy told Prep2Prep:
“We were just a little faster and more athletic on the perimeter, plus our conditioning level was better. Their big kids seemed to tire in the second half. I couldn’t be more proud of our kids and the way they held their own against their big line.”
With Rancho Cotate moving from Division II to Division III due to a drop in enrollment, Marin Catholic will be facing a fellow Redwood Empire team that they supposedly played in the 1970s but haven’t faced in the 29 years Conroy has been at the Rancho Cotate helm.
