Prep football: Marin Catholic unable to keep pace with Cardinal Newman

In a matchup of two of the top football teams in the North Coast Section, Cardinal Newman put on a dominant showing in rolling to a 45-13 win over Marin Catholic on Friday night in Santa Rosa.

With the victory the Cardinals (8-1, 4-0) clinched at least a share of the Redwood Empire Adobe league crown in handing the Wildcats (4-5, 3-1) their first league loss and ending their three-game win streak in the process.

The Cardinals amassed 228 yards on the ground and outscored MC 21-0 in the second half to notch only its third win over MC in their past 11 meetings.

Trailing 24-13 at intermission after a last-second 41-yard field goal by the Cardinals, the Wildcats couldn’t get anything going in the second half in managing just 10 yards of offense.

“They did what they wanted to do and we didn’t do a good job of stopping it,” MC coach Mazi Moayed said. “We had some guys go down, a couple of our defenders, that definitely swung the pendulum. We were trying to move the chains and march down the field a little bit and it was tough to do against the front they had. We were working on our passing game, but it was hit and miss for us.”

Even without starting running back Jarred Geissberger, who was held out nursing an ankle injury suffered last week, MC got off to a quick start.

After a roughing the passer call gave them a first down at their own 36-yard line, quarterback Dylan Skrinar connected with Eddie Bullian for 47 yards down the left sideline and a few plays later Elijah Serafin rumbled in from two yards out to give the Wildcats a 7-0 lead just five minutes into the game.

Newman tied it up four minutes later on a short run by Brody Estrela. Skrinar was intercepted on MC’s next possession by Jonah Bertoli, who returned it 30 yards for a score and Newman had a lead it would never relinquish.

Malakai Pathoumnourack increased the Cardinals’ lead to 21-7 when he plunged in from a yard out on fourth and goal. Pathoumnourack had 94 of his game-high 114 yards rushing in the second half.

Tino Retamoza saw his first action at quarterback since breaking his collarbone during the first game of the Cardinals’ season. He threw for just 87 yards, but he ran for 48 yards on eight carries, which included a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs.

“I loved the way we ran the ball in the second half,” Newman coach Frank McManus said. “All facets are starting to come together. Our special teams had a great night flipping the field. A great game and great building block as we move to next week.”

Elijah Serafin got MC to within a touchdown with a 54-yard scoring run to make it 21-13 after the extra point was missed with two minutes left in the half.

The Cardinals were able to move the ball down field quickly and made a 41-yard field goal with a few seconds left to take a 11-point lead into the locker room.

The Cardinals found the end zone in each of their first two possessions of the second half to remove any doubt to the outcome.

“They were healthy. When you are losing guys left and right … many starters … hurts morale,” Bullian said. “Full credit to them. They played great. (Geissberger) being out definitely hurts. He’s a two-way starter and extremely key to us on both sides of the ball.”

MC hosts Windsor on Friday night to close out the regular season.

Cardinal Newman 45, Marin Catholic 13

Redwood Empire Adobe

MC 7 6 0 0 – 13

CN 14 10 14 7 – 45

SCORING SUMMARY

MC – Serafin 2 run (Stephens kick)

CN – Estrela 2 run (Taylor kick)

CN – Bertoli 30 INT return (Taylor kick)

CN – Pathoumnourack 1 run (Taylor kick)

MC – Serafin 54 run (kick failed)

CN – Taylor 41 FG

CN – Retamoza 1 run (Taylor kick)

CN – Pathoumnourack 28 run (Taylor kick)

CN – Estrela 3 run (Taylor kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – MC, Serafin 7-66, Conroy 4-14, Matza 1-(minus-1), Chigos 1-(minus-1), Trammell 1-(minus-3), Skrinar 8-(minus-19). Totals 22-56. CN, Pathoumnourack 15-114, Estrela 11-63, Retamoza 8-48, Vaetoe 2-6, Boyd 1-(minus-1), Cargill 1-(minus-2). Totals 38-228.

PASSING – MC, Skrinar 8-22-1 90. CN, Retamoza 11-20-0 87.

RECEIVING – MC, Bullian 1-47, Matza 1-11, Tarantino 1-20, Greco 2-15, Trammell 1-0, Serafin 2-(minus-3). Totals 8-90. CN, Strane 3-34, Matai 2-20, Bertoli 2-15, Guevara 1-11, Pathoumnourack 2-5, Cargill 1-2. Totals 11-87.

Records – Marin Catholic 4-5, 3-1. Cardinal Newman 8-1, 4-0.