SANTA CRUZ — North Monterey County High was one of the hottest teams in the area going into Friday night’s Pacific Coast Athletic League Cypress game against Santa Cruz High.
The Condors were looking to extend their five-game win streak but the Cardinals swooped in, talons first to snap that run with a 33-21 win.
“We knew they were going to be a tough opponent,” said N.M.C. coach Sean Gomes. “They’re a damn good football team and they showed it. That quarterback (Dillon Danner) is something else.”
Danner completed 12-of-20 pass attempts for 146 yards and two touchdowns for the Cardinals. The senior QB also had 64 yards rushing and a touchdown on five carries, including a 41-yard dash that set up the game-sealing score.
“We didn’t underestimate them, we knew they were going to be good and on film they’re putting points up on teams that we played and we felt were good teams,” Gomes said.
The Condors dropped to 6-2 overall and now trail Santa Cruz (5-2, 3-0) in the league standings at 3-1.
Still, Gomes said there’s plenty of hope they can at least be co-champs in the PCAL-Cypress if Soquel High can beat Santa Cruz in the annual Stump game on Nov. 1.
“We hope Soquel can knock them off and we can still get a share of the title,” Gomes said.
The Condors have not won a league title since 2003 when they played in the now defunct Monterey Bay League.
N.M.C. senior quarterback Brandon Ducusin completed 10-of-18 pass attempts for 151 yards and two touchdowns. He also had a two-yard rushing touchdown but finished with negative-19 yards on 13 carries.
Ducusin was sacked three times and was tackled four times for a loss as he tried to scramble away from a speedy Cardinals’ defense.
N.M.C. made things interesting near the end of the game. It scored 14 points in less than a minute to make it a one possession game, cutting Santa Cruz’s lead to 26-21 and nearly spoiling the homecoming festivities.
But the miracle comeback was put to an end when Danner broke free for a 41-yard run to the Condors’ 9-yard line. He said he rolled out and was supposed to hit one of his teammates downfield but instead found an open lane to run through.
Three plays later, sophomore Qwentin Brown was in the end zone and celebrating with his teammates.
“My line was blocking tremendously today and I have to give them a lot of credit for what they did,” Danner said. “They’ve been improving every day and every week at practice. They’re going hard and it showed today.”
Gomes said he felt good going into halftime with a 7-6 lead. He believed the defense had gathered itself after Danner connected with Brown for a 20-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter.
Brown didn’t find the end zone again until the third quarter, which gave the Cardinals their first lead at 14-7.
But Danner continued to pour on the points, starting with a 3-yard touchdown in the fourth. He followed up with a 9-yard strike to senior Henry Campion that gave Santa Cruz a 26-7 lead with a little less than five minutes left in the game.
“Just a few big plays here and a few big plays there and they got back in the end zone time after time,” Gomes said.
Brown had 52 yards and a pair of touchdowns on 17 carries, while Campion finished with 33 yards and a touchdown on two receptions.
Senior Makai Norman had a game-high seven receptions for 64 yards for the Cardinals.
N.M.C. senior running back Kobe Hatten finished with a game-high 150 yards on 25 carries, while senior receiver Riley Anderson had 25 yards and a touchdown on a team-high four receptions.
The teams combined for 27 penalties for 278 yards. The Cardinals were hit with 11 penalties for 105 yards and Santa Cruz senior quarterback Dillon Danner said the coaches told them to stay focused on what they can control.
“We can’t control what the refs do,” Danner said. “So we just play our game and whatever they do, we just play.”
The Condors racked up 16 of those penalties for 173 yards. Most of the flags were for unsportsmanlike conduct.
“It was too many penalties and it killed us,” Gomes said.
The Condors will head into their bye week to get prepared for the final two games of the season — at home against King City High on Nov. 1 and finally on the road at Gonzales High on Nov. 8. Both games slated for 7:30 p.m.
Gomes said this upcoming week will be a chance to improve on what went wrong Friday night and get ready for the home stretch.
“It’s not a bye week for us, it’s a get-better week for us and hopefully we’re prepared and better suited to go against King City and get back on the winning track,” Gomes said.
Soquel 32, Watsonville 7: Watsonville High senior Blake Mares had a 2-yard touchdown run late in the fourth quarter but the Wildcatz fell to the Knights on Friday night in PCAL-Cypress action.
Mares had a 40-yard burst on an 80-yard drive that was capped by his score with 2:22 left in the game. Mares totaled 199 yards and the touchdown on 34 carries.
Tanner Jones finished with 122 rushing yards and 65 receiving yards, while sophomore quarterback Max Mendoza completed 5-of-7 pass attempts for 101 yards for the Knights (7-1, 3-1).
It was the first time Soquel High coach Dwight Lowery was on the opposite sideline coaching a game against Watsonville’s Ron Myers, his former coach at Soquel in 2002 and ’03.
Up next, Watsonville (2-5, 0-3) will hit the road to take on San Lorenzo Valley High on Saturday at 2 p.m.
