Finishing kick
California rides second-half surge to playoff win over Northgate
California’s football team took a while to get its motor running Friday night.
Once it did, the Trojans began firing on all cylinders and surged past Northgate to a 16-7 victory in their WPIAL Class A first-round playoff game at Trojan Stadium.
Second-half touchdowns by Alan Dennis and Chase Shemansky helped sixth-seeded California overcome a 7-0 halftime deficit to advance to this Friday’s quarterfinals against No. 3 seed Clairton with the site to be determined.
Dennis had 14 carries for 111 yards and Shemansky grabbed four passes for 57 yards as the Trojans extended their winning streak to eight games while improving to 9-2.
“The way they came out the second half, they were focused and I thought they played pretty darn good football,” said California coach Ed Woods, whose team repeated as Tri-County South Conference champions during the regular season.
The first half didn’t go nearly as good for the Trojans, who turned the ball over twice and were held scoreless.
“We couldn’t get into any rhythm on offense in the first half,” Wood said. “They were making some silly mistakes and things weren’t going our way. At halftime I just told the kids to relax, go out and play the way they know how to play.”
California recorded a couple first downs on its first drive of the second half but was eventually forced to punt.
The Trojans would gradually seize control of the game from this point on, starting with their defense which forced a three-and-out.
California took over at its own 35 with 8:42 left in the third quarter. Dennis broke free for a weaving, 33-yard run on the next play to the Flames 32 to give the Trojans a spark.
“That was huge,” Wood said. “Alan is a special back. His cut-back ability is something you can’t teach, you either have it or you don’t.”
California followed that with runs of 6 yards by Dennis, 12 yards by Weston Monticelli and 6 yards by Shemansky to the 8-yard line. Dennis scored from there two plays later and the Trojans were finally on the board with 6:07 remaining in the third quarter.
California went for two and got it to go up 8-7 when quarterback Brandon Meier rolled to his right and threw back across the field to his left to a wide open Carter Frank.
“We ran that play once early in the year and just never came back to it but we thought it would be a good play to run against them,” Woods said of the two-point conversion. “So we pulled that out and practiced it all week. It worked out, they executed it perfectly.
“I felt once we got ahead, we were in good shape.”
Northgate (7-4) fought back with a pair of first downs on its next possession to move into California territory, but linebacker Colton Lowden foiled the drive when he intercepted a pass by Devontae Smith and returned it 8 yards to the Trojans 46 late in the quarter.
“He made the right read and was in the right spot and grabbed the football,” Wood said.
“I was right there and the wide receiver tipped it up in the air,” Lowden said. “My eyes got huge and I grabbed it. I felt like that was another big momentum boost for us.”
California moved the ball to the Northgate 42 and on the second play of the fourth quarter Meier completed a 28-yard pass to Shemansky to the 14.
“Brandon made the right read but had some pressure on him and didn’t throw it exactly how he wanted but Chase adjusted to the ball and made the catch,” Wood said.
Meier went right back to Shemansky again on the next play for a 14-yard touchdown pass.
Meier followed that up with a two-point conversion pass to Monticelli to give the Trojans a two-score lead of 16-7.
“Brandon, this being his first playoff game as a quarterback, had some nerves early on,” Wood said. “Once he settled down, things started to slow down for him a little bit. He did a nice job in the second half as far as controlling the offense and making his reads.
“The whole team stepped up and executed better in the second half.”
Needing to score on two possessions, the Flames drove from their own 28 to the California 23 where they faced a fourth and 18. Strong-legged kicker Samuel Stiteler was sent out to attempt a 40-yard field goal but it was blocked by Shemansky with Lowden recovering the ball at the Trojans 28 to all but seal the victory.
“We knew they had a good kicker and that’s something else we practiced this week,” Wood said. “We knew Chase was the guy we wanted to get in position to maybe block a kick.
“Chase is Mr. Consistent for us. Every game he just comes out and plays football. He’s one of those kids who never gets too high or too low. He’s just that steady football player. He leaves everything out on the field. He came through tonight.”
From there the Trojans ran the final four minutes off the clock to end it.
Smith led the way for the Flames, completing 12 of 21 passes for 83 yards while running 20 times for 77 yards. He was intercepted twice, including once in the first half on a stellar play by linebacker Frank who returned it 15 yards.
“I watched the quarterback and saw the slant was coming,” Frank said. “I put my arm up and ended up grabbing the ball with one hand somehow.”
“Colton and Carter both have done a real nice job this season as inside linebackers,” Wood said. “They both have over 100 tackles this year.”
Smith ran for 54 yards in the first half but was held to less than half of that in the second half thanks to California adjusting its tackling tactics.
“The kid’s a 6-1, 6-2, 210-pound quarterback who is strong,” Wood said. “We were hitting him high and he was able to keep his legs pumping and get extra yardage in the first half. In the second half we started hitting him lower and were much more effective at stopping him.”
California’s first drive of the game ended in an interception by the Flames’ Billy Hurley.
Northgate then went on a 11-play, 57-yard touchdown drive capped by Smith’s 8-yard run with Stiteler adding the extra point for a 7-0 lead.
Dennis broke free for a 40-yard return on the ensuing kickoff but fumbled at the end of the run with Northgate recovering.
“The first quarter we only had two offensive snaps,” Woods pointed out.
Neither team could score in the second quarter with the Flames taking a 7-0 into the locker room.
“We made a few slight adjustments on both sides of the ball at halftime, but I think it was more for us just to settle down and play good football,” Wood said. “We got our running game going in the second half and I thought our defense played well the whole game. They were rallying to the ball and gang tackling.”
Wood commended Northgate.
“They’re a good football team, very disciplined,” Wood said. “We tried to get them to jump offsides a few times and it only worked once.
“Northgate kids, they played hard. And they were very respectful, as was their head coach.”