Three Quarters

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. Continue Reading →

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