In a battle of two strong rushing teams on Saturday, the sixth-seed Soquel Knights faced the second-seed Sacred Heart Prep Gators (11-1) on Palatella Field, where SHP emerged with a 47-17 victory to advance to the CCS Division IV Finals.
“This is the third time we have made it to the final round of the playoffs, so I’m excited,” SHP coach Peter Lavorato said. “It’s wonderful to get to the finals. There are not too many teams that can say that.”
Going into the semifinal round, SHP worked hard during practice to prepare for the matchup against Soquel senior running back Fabiano Hale.
“We knew [Soquel] had a really good running back who we had to shut down, so our mentality was do everything we can the best that we can,” SHP senior wide receiver Rex Shannon said.
Hale, who rushed for 375 yards and scored six touchdowns during last week’s win against third-seed Carmel, was a force to be reckoned with.
“Our goal was to stop number 34 and run the ball as best as we can,” Lavorato said. “Basically we aimed to to control the ball on offense and stop [Hale] on defense.”
The Gators were off to a strong start and maintained a secure lead over the Knights during the entire game. Even though SHP is known for being running-oriented on offense, the Gators notably utilized their passing game in the first half.
After junior running back Andrew Segre successfully ran an 8-yard rushing TD for the Gators with 6:46 left in the first quarter, the wide receivers were put into action. From his own 19-yard line, SHP senior quarterback Kevin Donahoe found Shannon deep down the field for an 81-yard TD reception. By the end of the first quarter, SHP had a 14-3 lead over Soquel, which had to settle for a 25-yard field goal by junior kicker Tanner Mihelic late in the quarter.
SHP didn’t make things easier for Soquel going into the second. Because of SHP’s solid defense, the Knights were unable to score until there was 1:57 left in the quarter. A 51-yard TD pass from senior quarterback Lucas Cordoza to senior wide receiver Trestan Peacock gave the Knights seven more points and cut the lead to 27-10.
But by then, SHP had already scored two more times, first with a 20-yard TD pass from Donahoe to Shannon again and a 7-yard TD rush by senior running back Ryan Gaertner.
SHP ended the quarter on a high note with a 22-yard TD pass by the Donahoe-Shannon pair yet again. The Gators attempted a two-point PAT conversion, but the play ended with an incomplete pass to senior tight end Derek Hunter. By halftime, the score was 33-10.
“It felt really great to make the three touchdowns,” Shannon said. “My quarterback [Donahoe] had some amazing throws. He played unbelievable, so I have to give all of the credit to him.”
Going into the second half of the game, the SHP defense continued to be relentless and only let Soquel score one more time: a 5-yard rushing TD by Hale with 6 minutes 40 seconds left in the third quarter.
But the Soquel defense also held up a strong guard and only allowed two more touchdowns by the Gators. Late in the third, a handoff to Segre resulted in a 15-yard rushing TD. Segre would go on to rush again for a 5-yard TD in the fourth quarter.
Despite the loss, an emotional Hale gave credit to Sacred Heart Prep.
“[SHP] is just a great team that came out and dominated,” said Hale, a senior. “The most memorable moment was the whole game. It’s the last game.”
The win for the Gators means they will go up against their neighbors, the fourth-seed Menlo Knights (10-2), who defeated No. 1 Seaside in the other semifinal.
“It feels unbelievable to make it to the finals,” Shannon said. “The fact that we are playing Menlo again makes it the best ending [to the playoffs].”
SHP captured a come-from-behind 31-28 win over Menlo during the regular season and hopes to repeat the feat when they meet again this Saturday in the CCS Division IV Finals at Terra Nova High School.
“Our motto is ‘one more game,’ so it’s really cool to know that we’ve got one more last game,” Lavorato said. “We just have to work hard in preparation, be willing to put the time and effort into that because you don’t win football games on the day of the game. You win them the five or six days before that.”
