Pacifica senior running back Ma’kai Brown gains tough yardage as he moves the ball up the field during the first half of Friday night’s game against Northwood. (PHOTOS: Fernando M. Donado, For OC Sports Zone
After losing a double-digit lead in the second half, Pacifica needed to score a fourth-quarter touchdown to comeback and defeat Northwood 20-14 in a nonleague football game Friday night at Bolsa Grande High.
Mariners senior quarterback James Anema guided Pacifica on a five-play, 81-yard scoring drive early in the fourth quarter to give the Mariners (2-1) their second consecutive win and avenge a shutout loss at the hands of Northwood last season.
The key play on Pacifica’s scoring drive was a swing pass from Anema to David Carlsson who hauled the ball in and tuned on the jets, racing 47 yards for the go-ahead score.
“I was just trying to get into the end zone and put points on the board,” said Carlsson, who caught four passes for 113 yards and two touchdowns. “This win helps build momentum.”
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Carlsson also caught a 53-yard TD pass from Anema midway through the second quarter that gave the Mariners a 6-0 lead.
“We’re fighters, we’re underdogs,” said Anema, who completed nine passes for 160 yards and two TDs. “We kept pounding and it paid off.”
On Northwood’s ensuing possession, the Timberwolves (1-2) lined up to punt on a fourth-down play from deep in their territory.
Mariners’ linebacker Zack Dickison electrified the home crowd as he broke through the line and blocked Jack Schultz’s punt. Dickison scooped up the ball and raced 15 yards for a touchdown with 3:59 remaining in the quarter. Pacifica’s two-point conversion failed, and the Mariners took a 12-0 lead into the locker room.
“My job is not to block a punt but on their first punt I saw an opening and my coach told me to go for it, and I was fortunate to block it and pick it up and score,” said Dickison. “It feels so surreal that I scooped up the ball and scored”.
After sputtering in the first half and committing two turnovers, the Timberwolves’ offense struck quickly in the third quarter.
On the first play from scrimmage, sophomore quarterback Dylan D’Epifanio connected on a 75-yard TD pass to Jack Schultz to cut the score to 12-7.
Later in the quarter, the Timberwolves defense stopped Pacifica four times within the five-yard line and took over possession. On Northwood’s first play, D’Epifanio connected a second time with Schultz – this time on a 98-yard TD pass – that propelled Northwood to a 14-12 lead with 2:25 left in the third quarter.
However, that set the stage for Anema to lead the Mariners on their game-winning scoring drive with 8:47 to play. The Timberwolves had two more opportunities late in the fourth quarter but came up short. Pacifica linebacker Tyler Alvarado came up with two tackles for losses on the Timberwolves final drive to stall Northwood’s final surge.
“We knew we had to make big plays to shut them down late in the game,” said Alvarado.
The Mariners got an outstanding performance from running back Ma’kai Brown who rushed for 126 yards on 23 carries, despite battling an ankle injury that caused him to leave the game twice.
”The ankle has been nagging me, and I had to come out of the game twice, but this win means a lot to us,” said Brown. “We executed and we’re building team chemistry.”
D’Epifanio completed 12 passes for 249 yards and two TDs. Schultz had another outstanding game for Northwood as he caught four passes for 191 yards and two touchdowns.
“I’m proud of these guys,” said Pacifica coach Kyle Murphy. “We were up by 12 points and then we fell behind, and we could have shut it down. But these guys fought through injuries and came together and didn’t shut it down. These guys are fighters and we’re building something here.”
Northwood coach Erik Terry was upbeat but placed the blame for the loss on himself.
“I think they came out with more passion than we did, and they came after us,” said Terry. “We came out flat. We started rolling, but then we sputtered again. It’s up to me and the coaching staff to have these guys ready to play at the start of the game.”
NOTES:
—Pacifica’s third-year coach Kyle Murphy was an offensive lineman at Edison High School (1989-92) and played guard at Arizona State University (1993-97). Murphy later became an offensive line coach for Edison High from 2000-10.
—-Murphy was a teammate and close friend of Pat Tillman Jr. in college at ASU. Tillman was drafted and played safety for the Arizona Cardinals from 1998-2001. He amassed 374 tackles during his career. Tillman left professional football and enlisted into the US Army Special Operations. He died in April 2004 in the line of duty while on his second military deployment in Afghanistan. He was 27 years old.
—After missing the first two games of the season, Northwood offensive/defensive lineman Jacob Harper returned from a hip injury and played strong on both sides of the ball.
—The referee crew working Friday’s game indicated they are one of two crews in Orange County this season who are working to have each stadium’s microphones hooked up directly to the referees. The crew noted that this practice is widely used throughout the San Diego CIF Section.
—Kole Chapman had an interception for Pacifica in the second quarter.
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