Chance Early hauls in his go-ahead 63 yard TD pass vs. Point Loma (NC Times photo)
Like a lot of young men, Chase Early grew up wanting to be just like his father. Good thing for Cathedral High School’s defending State Champion Division III football team he did.
Early’s father, Quinn, played 12 years in the National Football League, catching passes for not only the San Diego Chargers, who drafted him with a third-round pick in 1988, but also the New Orleans Saints, Buffalo Bills and New York Jets. He caught 460 passes and scored 40 touchdowns. But did he ever make a bigger catch than his son did in Friday’s Division III final against Point Loma High at Qualcomm Stadium?
Doubtful.
The younger Early scored on a 63-yard catch and run with 3:59 remaining to lift Cathedral to a 20-14 victory and its third-straight San Diego Section championship. Heart-broken Point Loma, which appeared on the verge of a major upset leading 14-6 after three quarters, suffered its fourth title-game loss in the last five years.
“I always wanted to follow in my dad’s footsteps,” said Early, a 6-foot, 170-pound junior. “He told me to never quit and to never give up.”
That advice not only served Early well, but also the rest of the top-seeded Dons, who had won 32 of their last 33 games going in but were out-played in a steady drizzle for three-and-a-half quarters by the underdog Pointers (9-4, and seeded third). Gaining just 68 total yards through three quarters and needing two touchdowns to win in the final seven minutes, Cathedral pulled it together just in time.
“I’m not going to lie to you, because I started to have my doubts,” said senior quarterback Max Brewer, who had completed only two passes all day before unleashing the winning TD throw to Early on a 3rd-and-9 play. “We were messing up and starting to lose our composure a little bit on the sidelines. But as we got later in the game we knew we had to find a way to get it done.”
Cathedral (12-1) scored first when, just minutes after an apparent 38-yard TD reception by Early was nullified by an illegal motion penalty (”That felt horrible,” said Quinn’s son), 1,500-yard running back Jonny Martin slipped into the end zone for his 17th touchdown of the year on a fourth-and-goal call from the one. The extra point was blocked leaving the score 6-0, but most figured that the Dons — winners of Division III by a combined 74 points the last two seasons – were just getting started on their way to another championship game rout.
Point Loma, on the wrong end of a 41-3 blowout at the hands of Cathedral in the ‘07 title game, wouldn’t oblige, however. The Pointers turned the tide on a remarkable 21-play, 81-yard drive that included an interception and fumbled return (which gave theball right back to them), a 13-yard TD run by halfback Emilio Diaz that was called back because of a holding penalty, and 19 short but solid running plays which took nearly nine minutes off the clock.
At the end of the long march, Pointers kicker Ruben Diaz had his 29-yard field goal blocked by Brien Moynihan. Never had so much produced so little — but still meant so much.
The reason? Cathedral’s defense was on the field so long that even the halftime break wasn’t lengthy enough to refresh them. And Point Loma took over the game in the third quarter. Running back Leslie Rogers busted through the worn-out Dons for a 61-yard touchdown run just five plays into the second half to give the Pointers their first lead, 7-6.
Following an exchange of turnovers and a Cathedral punt, Point Loma scored again on a 25-yard dash by quarterback Keegan Fitzgerald which made it 14-6 with 1:42 left in the third. The quarter ended with Point Loma gaining 142 yards to Cathedral’s 11.
“The last two years when we won CIF it felt good, but the games were easy,” said Brewer. “This time, we knew if we could pull it out, it would feel even better.”
The Dons finally reversed momentum midway through the fourth quarter when Fitzgerald mishandled the slippery ball on a center-quarterback exchange at midfield. Helped by a third-down pass interference penalty, Cathedral swept 50 yards, scoring on Morris’ second touchdown of the day from a yard out with 7:10 left. Brewer’s two-point conversion pass was knocked down, however, and the Dons still trailed, 14-12.
After the defense held, Cathedral got the ball back at its own 36 with 5:19 remaining. On 3rd-and-9, coach Sean Doyle sent in word to go for the downs. Brewer called a slant-and-go for Early, who was lined up in single coverage split to the left against Point Loma’s Davis Callejon. The slant move drew in Callejon and allowed Early to get a half-step behind his coverage.
Brewer delivered a perfect throw, Early made the catch, then broke free of Callejon’s tackle at the 35-yard-line. The rest was clear sailing to the end zone and a third-straight Section championship.
Dad couldn’t have done it any better.
– Ello –
