East County Sports

Destined Cavers defeat Sultans in semis

2018 EAST COUNTY PREP FOOTBALL

SAN DIEGO CIF DIVISION IV SEMIFINALS

SAN DIEGO 40, SANTANA 21

 

EastCountySports.com staff report

 

SAN DIEGO – The San Diego Cavers defeated the Santana Sultans, 40-21, in the San Diego CIF Division IV semifinals at Balboa Stadium on Friday night.

But the Sultans can say they were able to compete on a near-championship level with the history-making Cavers, who are heading back to the section title game after their ninth-consecutive victory.

After allowing the Cavers a three touchdown, Santana made things interesting against a red-hot opponent.

San Diego High senior Raiden Hunter had a big run early down to the Santana 1, then snuck it in himself for the lead.

Then senior Daniel Thomas did what we fans always say receivers should try to do.

Thomas was just behind the leap of a defender but wasn’t able to high-point the ball, but instead used a volleyball set to lift it a  couple of more feet to snatch it away for the 30-yard score.

Santana junior quarterback NATHAN TEMPLE Temple engineered a scoring drive with a pair of completions and a dive play for a first down that ended up turning in to a touchdown as he just kept going for a 9-yard play to make it 13-7

San Diego senior Jayden Wickware rushed in for a 10-yard score that made it 20-7.

Then, O’Connor to found Hunter for a 27-7 lead with a throw back to the other side of the field that resulted in a score.

Then, the Cavers must’ve skipped the special teams portion of film work leading up to the game, as COLTON SNIPES, who recovered his own on-side kick twice in last week’s playoff win at Mar Vista, did so again on the ensuing kick, and made it look easy.

Santana junior RANDY SMITH capped a great season with a 12-yard touchdown reception to close to within a pair of scores at 27-14.

Temple connected with sophomore JARED FORSTER for an 8-yard score to continue to the rally, now at 27-20.

The Cavers got a 52-yard touchdown run from Wickware to go back up by two scores.

Then, Mo Jackson, who hadn’t found the end zone, but finished with nearly 200 yards rushing on 14 carries, cashed in from seven yards out for the final margin.

Senior IAN LITTEN and Snipes both recovered fumbles for the Sultans.

Temple passed for over 200 yards on the evening.

San Diego (9-2) will meet Kearny for the section title next Friday.

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