Gators stunned by Aptos

It was a doubly disappointing night for Sacred Heart Prep.

The brunt of the disappointment came Saturday evening in a stunning 35-34 loss to Aptos in the Central Coast Section Open Division III championship game. Then, later that night, in the CCS Open Division II championship, Valley Christian upset St. Francis 31-30 in overtime, an outcome that knocked SHP out of contention for a CIF Northern California tournament spot and ending the Gators’ season.

It was a crushing loss as No. 2-seed SHP (11-2 overall) had Aptos in its sights. The Gators, after trailing most of the fourth quarter, surged ahead with 2:05 to play when sophomore quarterback Raymond Price III ran 48 yards for a touchdown to put SHP up 34-29.

“Definitely, Aptos is a great team,” SHP senior running back Tevita Moimoi said. “Their offense was our No. 1 priority, stopping them.”

No. 5 Aptos (11-2) has been one tough team to stop though. Outscoring opponents 591-219, the Mariners scored 111 points in their two previous CCS playoff games, opening with a 62-37 win over Terra Nova, followed by a 49-6 win over top-seed Palma.

And the Mariners answered right back, driving 81 yards on five plays to score the decisive touchdown.

The stunner came on second-and-12 from the Aptos 32, when Mariners running back Marcos Reyes threw an option pass 37 yards to tight end Shane Modena to move into Gators territory. Then, after a 23-yard keeper by quarterback Hunter Matys, senior Josh Powell swept around the left side for a 10-yard score to crush the Gators’ championship hopes.

Powell was a backfield powerhouse for Aptos, rushing 25 times for 250 yards and two touchdowns. Aptos went to the air just eight times in the game, including four completions.

SHP head coach Mark Grieb said his defense knew Aptos had the option pass up its sleeve, and refused to say whether or not the Gators were caught off guard by the play.

“You can, but I’m not going to do it,” Grieb said.

Grieb prefaced the comment with a breakdown of Aptos’ talented offense.

“We’re in a 1-point game against a good team in Aptos,” Grieb said. “And, honestly, just to be in the game with these guys says how good a team we have.

“Our defense has been a rock all season,” Grieb said. “That’s an incredible offense over there. … They scored 49 (points) against Palma, and we hold them to 35.”

For Moimoi, who was on the field for offense and defense for all but one play through, the breakdown of the option pass was an emotional one as well.

“They’re a big run team,” Moimoi said. “We were caught off guard. They got us on that one.”

Moimoi was an ironman, rushing 24 times for 100 yards. Price went for a team-high 121 yards on 14 carries with a touchdown, and was also 13-of-19 passing for 167 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

“[Price] played a heck of a game tonight,” Grieb said. “I’m proud of him and the way he rose to the occasion tonight.”

Price’s early pace got SHP out from for much of the second quarter.

Aptos took its first possession 80 yards on 12 plays, capped by a 1-yard score by Powell to make it 7-0. But the Gators answered with a flurry of scores, three to be precise, to swing out front 15-7.

Price led a 17-play, 74-yard drive, though it was field-goal kicker Ronan Donnelly who got the Gators on the board with the first touchdown pass of the night. The Gators lined up for a 25-yard field goal, but the snap flew wildly into the backfield, leaving Donnelly to chase it down. It turns out, Donnelly throws left-handed, which he showed off by lobbing a 7-yard pass into the end zone for senior Jack Kirkham for a score; the ensuing 2-pooint conversion try failed, leaving Aptos up 7-6.

But SHP scored four plays later on a blocked Aptos punt, as junior J.P. Frimel rushed in to knock the punt back into the end zone. Aptos’ punter chased it down and was sacked in by Kirkham and Brian Tinsley for a safety, giving SHP an 8-7 lead.

The Gators then drove seven plays for 57 yards, with senior Tommy Barnds scoring on a 7-yard end-around to increase the lead to 15-7.

But Aptos fired right back, going 80 yards on eight plays with senior fullback Silvano Lopez taking the big carry of 34 yards into SHP territory to the 30. Three plays later, Marcos Reyes scored on a 14-yard run; and the Mariners scored a 2-point conversion on a run by Matys to tie it 15-15 going into halftime.

Then came the back-and-forth of the second half.

Aptos needed less than two minutes to take the lead, with Matys scoring on a 28-yard keeper to make it 22-15. Late in the third quarter, though, SHP tied it again, capping a 12-play, 80-yard drive with a 3-yard scoring pass from Price to Barnds.

Aptos took the lead back with 9:17 remaining on a trap play to Powell for a 15-yard scoring run to make it 29-22.

SHP responded with a dramatic scoring drive, with Price connecting with junior receiver Dante Cacchione for a fourth-down, 32-yard pass on a post-corner route to move into the red zone. It was a terrific catch down the sideline, with Cacchione toeing the line: “for Ray’s perfect ball,” he said.

“I just though we’ve got to keep going, punch this ball in and take this lead back and come up with some stops,” Cacchione said.

It played out that way — eventually.

Four plays later, Barnds scored his third touchdown of the day with a 3-yard end around; but Aptos blocked the ensuing point-after try, leaving Aptos up 29-28.

But the SHP defense responded with clutch three-and-out — with stops from senior defensive end Ben Horvath on first down, a stifled QB keeper by senior safety Parker Isaacson on second down, and a stuff by Kirkham and senior linebacker John Willard on third down — to force a punt.

“I told the guys, ‘this is going to be a big stop for us,’” Moimoi said. “And our defense did a good job on that stop.”

SHP took over with 3:58 remaining, and took less than two minutes to score. In the end, the two minutes proved enough time for the Aptos offense to respond to Price’s go-ahead TD run.

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