Prep football: Marin Catholic shuts out Vintage, extends win streak to five

The Marin Catholic football team held the ball for all but six plays of the opening quarter on an unseasonably warm Saturday in Kentfield. Vintage (Napa) one-upped the Wildcats by keeping possession for every play of the third quarter.

The big difference between the two ball-hogging offenses was Marin Catholic’s ability to capitalize with a pair of touchdowns as the Wildcats blanked Vintage 20-0 in a Redwood Empire Adobe league victory.

The Crushers, on the other hand, came away empty-handed despite a 21-play drive and nearly 15 minutes of possession to start the second half.

“Vintage might have had the ball for 15 minutes but it felt like 15 hours,” MC coach Mazi Moayed said. “On every third and fourth down, they figured out a way to get a first down. But we hung in there and got the stop when we needed it.”

The Crushers’ interminable drive must have felt like an eternity to Moayed, especially since Vintage was threatening to climb back into the contest, trailing only 13-0 at the time.

The drive was finally squelched when Vintage quarterback Blake Porter threw back-to-back incompletions inside the MC 10-yard line.

The Wildcats (5-2, 2-0) took over on downs.

But the fun was not finished.

The MC offense went three-and-out and the Crushers had control of the ball again less than two minutes later.

“We need to get better on offense in those situations,” Moayed said. “They can’t run a 21-play drive and then we go three-and-out.”

But this time, the Vintage offense was halted almost in its tracks when Jude Baker picked off a pass on the second play and returned it 15 yards to the Vintage 39-yard line.

“We run that play against our defense a lot in practice,” Baker said. “I had coverage on the No. 2 (slot) receiver. I found myself on top of him in coverage and just made a play.”

Ten plays later, MC quarterback Caedon Afsharipour ran 11 yards to the end zone on a designed keeper for a touchdown to ice the victory.

“The offense played well early,” Moayed said. “But then penalties put us in bad situations. The penalties forced us into trying to convert too many third-and-long situations.”

MC’s first two drives, however, were good enough.

On the game’s opening drive, Afsharipour moved down field by completing two long passes – a 25-yard hook up with Branden Johnson and a 21-yarder to Jordan Rogers.

On second-and-goal from the seven-yard line, Afsharipour completed a fade to Kelly Storms for a touchdown.

The impressive drive covered 98 yards on 10 plays.

The Wildcats’ second touchdown was not nearly as epic but produced the same result.

Josh Riley’s fumble recovery set the Wildcats up with a short field at the Vintage 30-yard line.

Six players later, Jarred Geissberger stutter-stepped around a would-be tackler at the line of scrimmage and waltzed into the end zone standing up for another touchdown barely four minutes after the first one.

MC’s defense was superb Saturday, especially against Vintage’s vaunted rushing attack. The Wildcats limited the Crushers to 22 total rushing yards.

The Wildcats have won five games in a row after starting the season with a pair of losses.

“After starting the season 0-2, the players got that experience of finding out what their weaknesses were,” Moayed said. “And now we’ve had a chance to improve on some of those things.”

Marin Catholic 20, Vintage 0

Redwood Empire Adobe

Vintage  0  0  0  0  –  0

Marin Catholic  13  0  0  7  –  20

SCORING SUMMARY

MC – Storms 7 pass from Afsharipour (Carroll kick)

MC – Geissberger 7 run (kick failed)

MC – Afsharipour 11 run (Carroll kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – V, Howell 7-5, Lode 14-23, Porter 3-(minus-6), Sanchez 2-(minus-4), Bullock 1-3, Staley 2-1. Totals: 28-22. MC, Conroy 6-10, Afsharipour 12-51, Serafin 1-(minus-5), Geissberger 6-31. Totals: 25-87.

PASSING – V, Porter 7-13-1 83, Keener 0-1-1 0, Larsen 1-1-0 20. Totals: 8-15-2 103. MC, Afsharipour 8-13-0 112.

RECEIVING – V, Ferguson 2-31, Bullock 1-4, Henry 3-32, Sanchez 1-16, Porter 1-20. Totals 8-103. MC, Johnson 3-45, Rogers 3-47, Storms 1-7, Merrick 1-13. Totals: 8-112.

Records – Vintage 5-2, 1-1. Marin Catholic 5-2, 2-0.