Prep football: San Rafael scores seismic upset against Tam

Three years ago, when the current seniors on the San Rafael High football team were freshmen, the Bulldogs came oh so close to what would have been a seismic upset victory against Tam.

On Friday night, the Bulldogs were presented with another chance to seize a program-altering victory and made it count, scoring the final 22 points of the game to stun Tam 22-14 in overtime.

“It feels amazing,” San Rafael coach Casey Sully said. “Incredibly proud of the kids. I’m emotional talking about it. It feels like it’s been four years of work to get to this moment. To know the hours I’ve put in and the kids have put in, that have totally bought in. This is the first class all the way through that were freshmen when I got here and now they’re seniors and they’ve been rewarded with the hard work and dedication to beat a team that’s beaten the crap out of them for a decade.”

San Rafael (2-1) last defeated Tam in 2010 but most of the meetings since then had resembled the 49-0 drubbing the Bulldogs took in Mill Valley in 2023. San Rafael’s 14-12 loss in 2022 – Sully’s first year with the program after being the offensive coordinator at Tam – was very much the outlier.

“It’s the greatest feeling in the world,” said wide receiver Will Healy, who scored all three of San Rafael’s touchdowns. “I mean we’ve been working since spring, summer, all through the fall just for this moment and it’s so amazing for the whole team. We’ve been working so hard. It’s Sully’s ex-team so he wanted this so badly and I’m just grateful that we were able to get it done for him and the whole team.”

For most of the night, it felt like San Rafael might be doomed to another near miss like the 14-12 game in 2022. At one point, the Bulldogs trailed 14-12 in the fourth quarter and needed to cash in on a two-point conversion to tie it.

Tam led 14-0 at the half quarterback Henry Tuttle threw scoring passes to David Keane and Timo Ural.

“We know that we have to have the dog in us in the second half,” Royston said. “We were down 14 and we knew we were a better team. We shot ourselves in the foot but it gave us some confidence that we know we have what it takes to score against this team and get some points on the board, so that’s just what we tried to do. We all stayed together, we stayed tight knit, and the energy didn’t change at all. It got better.”

The Bulldogs pulled within 14-6 on the first play of the fourth quarter when quarterback Lachlan Royston found Healy for an 8-yard touchdown pass.

The Bulldogs got the ball right back and scored on a 63-yard touchdown pass from Royston to Healy on third-and-long to pull within 14-12. Royston hit Jameson Fondnazio for the two-point play to tie the game at 14-14.

Tam (0-3) went three and out then San Rafael went for it on fourth-and-10 near midfield with just over 2 minutes to go. The snap got away from Royston, who was sacked for an 11-yard loss. Tam was immediately in business at San Rafael’s 32-yard line.

Two plays later, Josue Munoz came up with an impressive interception to give San Rafael the ball back.

“Enormous,” Sully said of the play. “Credit to the kids for continuing to fight and not giving up. I think two years ago, even last year maybe, the team would have crumbled when we were in those adverse situations.”

The game eventually went to overtime after Tam’s field-goal attempt from 53 yards out came up short. The Red-tailed Hawks won the toss and elected to defend to start the overtime period.

San Rafael started at the Tam 25-yard line and got a first down on a run by Rio Johnson (27 carries, 122 yards) then went ahead on third down when Royston (278 yards) found Healy (10 catches, 162 yards) for his third touchdown. Royston’s two-point pass to Fondnazio gave the Bulldogs an eight-point lead.

Tam started its overtime possession at San Rafael’s 13-yard line after an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty against the Bulldogs after their touchdown. Disaster struck for the Red-tailed Hawks on third down as an errant snap got away from Tuttle, who was taken down for a 23-yard loss. Tuttle’s last-gasp heave toward receiver Timo Ural on 4th-and-29 eventually fell incomplete in the end zone and the Bulldogs celebrated their victory.

“It was a surreal moment,” said two-way lineman Carlos Gomez. “I was happy. I was crying with my teammates. We made history. The last time they won was like 15 years ago.”

Sully called the result the biggest win for San Rafael since he took over the program. It’s arguably the biggest win for the Bulldogs since they went 11-2 under current Marin Catholic coach Mazi Moayed in 2010.

“It’s the biggest win since I’ve been here,” Sully said. “I remember my first year we went to the playoffs and everyone counted us out. We went up to Analy and it went back and forth, 49-42. That felt like a huge accomplishment in the first year but we didn’t win. It was due. I talked to the kids about it like ‘Close enough isn’t not good enough any more so let’s finish the job.’”

San Rafael’s statement win is sure to catch the eyes of many teams in the North Coast Section, in particular the other teams in the Redwood Empire Mountain Division.

“This is a strong group of guys and this is the strongest SR football team there has been in a long time and I know that for a fact,” Royston said.

San Rafael 22, Tam 14 (OT)

Tam 0 14 0 0 0 – 14

San Rafael 0 0 0 14 8 – 22

SCORING SUMMARY

T – Keane 5 pass from Tuttle (Keane kick)

T – Ural 11 pass from Tuttle (Keane kick)

SR – Healy 7 pass from Royston (kick blocked)

SR – Healy 63 pass from Royston (Fondnazio pass from Royston)

SR – Healy 8 pass from Royston (Fondnazio pass from Royston)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – Tam, Kelsey 9-74, Tuttle 3-18, Platt 4-10, Team 1-(minus-11). Totals 17-91. SR, Johnson 27-122, Cauich Rame 1-7, Royston 1-7, Munoz 9-2. Totals 38-138.

PASSING – Tam, Tuttle 15-28-0 159. Sacks 3-40. Totals 15-28-0 115. SR, Royston 26-41-2 278. Sacks 4-31. Totals 26-41-2 240.

RECEIVING – Tam, Kramlich 5-88, Ural 5-30, Keane 2-27, Kelsey 2-7, Carder 1-7. Totals 15-159. SR, Healy 10-162, Fondnazio 7-58, Hellyer 3-46, Black 2-11, Earnest 2-5, Cauich Rame 2-(minus-4). Totals 26-278.

Records – San Rafael 2-1, Tam 0-3.