 | | | After the game the Cougars greeted the fans who made the trip to Carson; about 40 Campo students boarded
a bus at 3:00 a.m. Saturday morning to support their team. Photo Lenny Monge
| | | | | | The magic ran out for the Campolindo High School football team but not before they qualified for the State Championship for the first time in program history. The Cougars traveled to the southland but dropped the Division III CIF State Bowl game Saturday at the Home Depot Center in Carson. They lost a tight match, 21-16 to Washington Union High of Fresno.
In typical Campo fashion, the underdogs battled to make their opponents earn the win.
The Cougars (14-1) fell behind 14-0 less than nine minutes into the game and then had to claw back into the contest. Campolindo made a run of it until the very end in front of a hearty contingent of Lamorinda supporters in the stands.
With 44 seconds left, they got close to an upset. Junior wide receiver Mason Windatt had a spectacular 19-yard catch off of a pass from junior quarterback Brett Stephens to score a touchdown. The Cougars, down 21-16 tried to regain possession off of an onside kick, but the Panthers (14-0) recovered the ball and officially squashed the comeback bid.
"That is kind of how we played our whole season," said senior wide receiver Griffin Piatt, who caught four passes for 59 yards and a touchdown. "We always come back there in the end and they get scared that we're still hanging around."
The Cougars struggled to get back in the game because they did not take advantage of scoring opportunities. Campolindo recorded a fumble, an interception and had to settle for a field goal while in Washington territory.
"It was just mental mistakes. We shot ourselves in the foot a lot inside the 20. We had to convert those points," Piatt said. "All year long we never let those mistakes take over the game and we fought through them."
Washington Union got on the board first when All-American receiver Deonte Greenberry jumped over two defenders to haul in a 26-yard touchdown. With the touchdown Greenberry became the national touchdown leader with 33. The Panthers scored again on a 3-yard run to make it 14-0.
Sophomore Christian Antezana's field goal chopped the deficit to 14-3 after an 11-play, 74-yard drive. Later, Piatt found his way into the end zone from 36 yards out to make it 14-10 with 2:57 left in the third quarter. Piatt weaved up the center of the field for the touchdown, fighting off five defenders' attempted tackles.
"Unfortunately those first two possessions, we put ourselves in a bad position. We said we can't let them get a lead on us," said head coach Kevin Macy. "I knew we would need some time to adjust to their speed."
Washington Union scored a 1-yard touchdown with 8:18 left to make Campolindo's road to victory much more difficult, and even the Cougar's last-minute touchdown wasn't enough to end the unfathomable season on a happy note.
"We always joked about making it to state, but never thought it would happen," said Windatt, who caught five passes for 72 yards and pulled in two interceptions on defense. "It was a great accomplishment. It's just too bad we didn't finish it up."
Stephens finished 25-for-40 with 264 yards, but also had four interceptions. Senior Karl Thornton was the team's leading receiver with 10 grabs totaling 83 yards. Senior running backs Reiner Ebarle and Connor Rosenbaum ran for 30 yards in nine carries and eight carries totaled 26 yards, respectively.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA