Cardinal Newman stopped short by St. Mary's, 35-34

The Cardinal Newman and St. Mary’s football teams matched each other point for point in Friday night’s game that came down to a judgment call on a two-point conversion try with 45 seconds remaining.

On a running try for the two points, Newman quarterback Jordon Brookshire was got close enough that many in crowd thought he had broken the plane of the goal line, but none of the officails raised their hands to signify a good conversion; they simply took the ball to the center of the field for a kickoff. With that, St. Mary’s of Stockton ran out the remaining seconds and had itself a 35-34 victory.

“It was kind of a horse race,” said St. Mary’s head coach Tony Franks. “It was whoever had the ball last.”

The Cardinals opened the first half, as Brooksire, their junior quarterback, carried the ball for 14 yards and the touchdown.

On the ensuing possession, there were a few big tackles from Newman’s defense, but the Rams got their turn to respond.

Quarterback Jake Dunniway connected with wide receive Keaton Hampton for a 3-yard touchdown to tie the score at 7-7 at the start of the second quarter.

Five minutes later, the Rams’ running back Brandon Zaunbrecher was the recipient of Dunniway’s handoff and carried the ball 5 yards and into the end zone for St. Mary’s second touchdown and a 14-7 lead.

Cardinal Newman got a big lift from its defense, as defensive back Damian Wallace caught an interception and ran more than 50 yards into the red zone. Brookshire then capped the short drive with a 3-yard touchdown run.

“Cardinal Newman is an exceptional team,” Franks said, “and Brookshire is an outstanding athlete. He was hard to stop.”

The two teams headed into the locker room tied at 14.

The Cardinals opened the second half by taking the lead, as Brookshire hit Wallace with a 32-yard pass. Wallace completed the 40-yard dash for the touchdown and the 21-14 lead.

St. Mary’s inched its way down the field and on a third down in the red zone, Zaunbrecher pushed across the line for the touchdown and the tie at 21-21.

Brookshire responded again, hitting Wallace ith a 47-yard scoring play to take the lead in the third quarter.

“My line was blocking hard,” Zaunbrecher credited his offensive line. “We played as a team and even though there were a lot of mistakes, it was a really great game.”

The Rams responded once again with their own trip to the end zone, as Zaunbrecher carried the ball for 5 yards and the touchdown.

“We feel like we have a good offensive line so we turn them loose up front,” Franks said.

Tied at 28, Cardinal Newman fumbled the football three minutes into the fourth quarter, leading to Rams’ tight end Sid Saharan 52-yard carry, and eventually the 1-yard touchdown and the lead.

With under three minutes remaining, the Cardinals were hit with a false start penalty on a 4-and-inches play.

Brookshire held the ball for the keeper play and a 21-yard gain, eventually carrying the ball for the final 16 yards down the field for the touchdown.

The Cardinals were unable to complete the 2-point conversion, however, as the clock wound down, the Rams keeping their 35-34 lead for the win.