Central Catholic shows resolve, renewed focus after early wakeup calls: ‘We’re not losing anymore’
By Mitchell Forde | Photos by Leon Neuschwander
Sandy running back Cole Rotzien dived across the goal line, and for a moment, an uneasy quiet settled over the Central Catholic side of the Hillsboro Stadium bleachers.
Friday night marked the first test of 2022 for the Rams against the state and league they’ve owned for the past two seasons. Central Catholic has taken home the past two Class 6A state titles. It entered Friday having won 13 consecutive matchups against Oregon foes and 15 in a row in the Mt. Hood Conference, dating to 2018.
But the first 23 minutes against Sandy were anything but dominant.
Central Catholic scored a touchdown on its opening drive but turned the ball over on downs on its second possession and punted on its third. Sandy, meanwhile, kept methodically moving the chains, keeping reigning Mt. Hood player of the year Cru Newman and the Rams offense on the sideline.
Rotzien’s touchdown made the score 7-6. The Pioneers were set to receive the ball to start the second half, too, presumably with a chance to maintain their momentum and take the lead.
Sixty seconds later, the Rams led 21-6, and Central Catholic was back to looking like Central Catholic.
Following Rotzien’s score, senior Michael Williams returned the kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown. Then, the Rams defense pushed the Sandy offense back 10 yards in three plays.
Leithan Thompson had to punt from his end zone, and Zhaiel Smith returned it to the Sandy 14, giving the Rams one more play with eight seconds on the clock. Newman rolled right and delivered a dart to Niko May, who corralled the pass despite taking a hit.
The kickoff-return touchdown provided a jolt to the entire Central Catholic roster, but it was particularly sweet for Williams. After getting knocked out of the team’s Week 2 game with a concussion, he called his shot, saying he would score a touchdown against Sandy. On his first touch of the game, he delivered.
“I was telling my coaches this whole week — I was like, ‘Hey, if I get the ball, I’m scoring,’” Williams said. “There’s no doubt about it in my mind. I was like, ‘I’m taking that to the house!’”
From there, the rout was on. Central Catholic’s Blake Anderson intercepted a pass by Sandy quarterback Billy Lucas on the first play of the second half, and Newman found Smith in the end zone a few snaps later.
With a little more than three minutes left in the third quarter, Central Catholic had taken a 41-6 lead, prompting the officials to keep the game clock running. The Rams scored five touchdowns in less than 10 minutes of game time.
The conference opener showed that Central Catholic still can be one of the most dominant teams in the state — but also that the Rams have work to do if they’re going to defend their title.
Central Catholic started its season with two out-of-state matchups against nationally regarded opponents in Bellevue (Wash.) and St. John Bosco (Calif.). The Rams came from behind to edge Bellevue 24-23 before falling 49-0 to St. John Bosco, the No. 1 team nationally in the SBLive/Sports Illustrated rankings.
Central Catholic coach Steve Pyne acknowledged Friday that his team might not have been as energized as it should have after playing the nation’s top-ranked team in Oregon’s Autzen Stadium the previous week.
Sandy pulling within a point delivered a loud-and-clear wakeup call, however.
“I hope our kids got a message that this is a four-quarter game,” Pyne said. “I thought we came out and played better in the second half defensively and executed better offensively.”
Energy aside, a few of the issues Pyne had seen in the first two weeks of the season showed up in the first half against Sandy.
The Rams defense struggled to get stops on third and fourth down. The offense moved the ball but couldn’t quite connect on a few key plays, particularly in the passing game, whether it was a fourth-and-goal incompletion in the second quarter or a couple of deep passes that just barely flew too far for the intended receivers to haul in.
Those aren’t reasons to panic for a team that lost 16 seniors who earned all-league honors last season as well as Riley Williams, the nation’s No. 2 tight end, who transferred to IMG Academy in Florida. Central Catholic also was playing without starting receiver Timmy Mitchell on Friday because of an ankle injury he suffered against St. John Bosco. But Pyne pointed to those miscues as things that could cost the Rams in the postseason.
Newman said the solution is simply to continue to emphasize the minute details.
“I think it’s just practice each day, staying after practice,” Newman said. “It’s just the little things that we need to work on. Little throws I need to make, little catches, blocks, everything — just the little things that we need to execute, and it should take us to the top.”
The positive is that, through three weeks, Pyne has seen resilience out of his team.
Central Catholic overcame a nine-point fourth-quarter deficit to beat Bellevue. While the score didn’t indicate it, the team showed fight against St. John Bosco, even when the outcome was apparent. And despite the fact that the team’s early issues against Sandy were largely self-inflicted, the Rams rallied to ensure the game was never really in doubt during the second half.
“I think our kids fight,” Pyne said. “They’re pretty gritty, and they persevere. They don’t let things get too high or too low. Getting drummed the way we got last week, they could have just gone a different direction mentally, but they didn’t. So, there’s some mental fortitude with this group.”
Just like Sandy’s first-half touchdown served as a wakeup call for Central Catholic, the loss to St. John Bosco sent the Rams a message.
“We know we’re not the best of the best,” Newman said.
Pyne believes his team can respond just like it did Friday night.
“After that Bosco game, we had a meeting about it, and he just kept it straight up with us,” Williams said of Pyne. “He was like, look, after this, after that Bosco game, we’re not losing anymore. He just told us straight up, we’re not losing. We’re going undefeated.”
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