East County Sports

Patriots find way to stay undefeated

EAST COUNTY PREP FOOTBALL

CHRISTIAN 14, MORSE 8

 

EastCountySports.com staff report

 

SAN DIEGO – The undefeated Christian Patriots were having a rough night on the football field and they knew it.

From the players to the coaching staff, there was little that could be done about all the penalties and turnovers the Pats had committed through three-plus quarters against the Morse Tigers, still trailing on the scoreboard 8-0 from the game’s opening drive.

Now five minutes into the final period, 11th-ranked Christian was running out of time for strategy and was going to need some big plays in order to turn the tide against the Tigers.

The Patriots’ JUSTIN ROEHL got the ball rolling with an interception to set up a 2-yard touchdown run from quarterback OWEN EASLEY. Then Easley added the conversion himself to tie the game at 8-all.

After a defensive stop, Christian running back JAVIER JIMENEZ broke off a run from midfield down to the 5 with under four minutes to go in the game.

Easley scored his second touchdown with another keeper to take a six-point lead.

The defense capped it off with a sack on the Tigers’ last-ditch drive.

Morse (4-3) scored on the game’s first possession after a line-drive kick off a Christian up-man was recovered by the Tigers.

From there, at least there was the Patriot ‘D’.

Senior defensive end GARRETT ROSENTHAL and junior gap backer ALEX MARKOWICZ turned in great efforts, according to Patriot assistant coach DAVID BEEZER.

“I thought our defense played fantastic,” Beezer said. “We did a good job on their backs. They were burning clock and running the ball. The game went quickly.”

NATHAN MATTAZARO and CODY BOSTIAN also paced the Patriot defense.

And it was a good thing. Christian gave away scoring chances by fumbling twice inside the Morse 10. The Tigers also had three interceptions on the night against the Pats.

“We can’t turn the ball over against a good team,” Beezer added. “We just honestly kept shooting ourselves in the foot with turnovers and penalties.”

Christian gets set for a long-anticipated contest with section super-power Cathedral Catholic next Friday. The Patriots will travel to play the county’s No. 2-ranked team in a non-league game.

“Cathedral has all the parts,” Beezer said.

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