GILROY – The Christopher High junior varsity football team
orchestrated a brilliant comeback to close out its inaugural season
with a 36-29 triumph over Marin Catholic on Saturday in Gilroy.
GILROY – The Christopher High junior varsity football team orchestrated a brilliant comeback to close out its inaugural season with a 36-29 triumph over Marin Catholic on Saturday in Gilroy.
Down 20-0 at halftime and 29-14 in the third quarter, the Cougars rattled off a frenzy of scores, culminating with a Marcus Harrell touchdown run with 42 seconds left to give them the win and a 5-4 record to end the season.
“Marin Catholic is a great program,” head coach Tim Pierlioni said earlier this week. “This was one of the greatest victories I have ever been apart of. The kids just refused to lose. All the work that we did throughout the year came together for us. I told them they played with the heart of a lion and they corrected me and said, ‘no of a cougar, coach.'”
After the Cougars narrowed the gap to 20-14, a botched punt led to a Marin Catholic safety. The Wildcats then proceeded to increase their lead back to double digits, scoring a touchdown on their ensuing possession.
“The kids just kind of took over after that,” Pierlioni said. “We started running our fly sweep to perfection. We just ran the ball right at them in the last quarter and they had a hard time tackling us.”
Quarterback Brandon Pickens hooked up with receiver Bryant Cid to make it 29-21.
“We scored three separate times on that drive,” Pierlioni said. “We had two called back.”
The Cougars tied the game with 1:40 remaining in the game as Harrell ran the fly sweep to the end zone. A successful 2-point conversion brought it to 29-29 with time winding down.
Keeping the pressure on, the Cougars forced a Wildcats’ fumble to get the ball back to its offense – who didn’t let the home crowd down.
“Defensive coordinator Tim Lemos made some great adjustments at halftime and we really held them in the second half,” Pierlioni said.
The defensive stand set up Harrell’s touchdown run to give Christopher the lead and secured the come-from-behind win.
“(Harrell) had a tough first half and then really came through for us in the end,” Pierlioni said. “Our offensive line blocked better than they have all year long. Patrick Valdez ran the ball extremely well. Jorge Ramos had his best running game. It was a great victory for us.”
Next year, the Cougars are headed to the Monterey Bay League for their first season as a varsity program.
