Cardinal Newman captures NCS football crown

Cardinal Newman had won its most recent North Coast Section football title six years ago. For some schools, that would be a tolerable gap. For Newman, with its rich gridiron history, it qualified as a drought.

Well, the drought is over. The Cardinals spotted St. Bernard's Academy a touchdown just 1:14 into the game Saturday night, then scored the next 44 points to run away with a 44-21 win in the NCS Division 4 title game at Rancho Cotate High.

“First, congratulations,” Newman coach Paul Cronin said to his team after they had been presented at midfield with a section banner, their 12th in football. “Second, the job's not done.”

Cardinal Newman will play for a NorCal championship next weekend, opponent and site to be determined.

The Cardinals stuck to their usual script against the team from Eureka. Quarterback Jordon Brookshire ran the read-option and hit open receivers, taking a hand in all six of his team's touchdowns. And the Newman defense controlled the line of scrimmage and swarmed to the ball.

St. Bernard's no-huddle, spread offense was averaging 554 yards and just under 50 points per game in 2016.

“We knew that they were gonna make plays on offense,” Cardinal Newman outside linebacker Jalen Dural said. “Because they put up 71 points against Salesian (in an NCS semifinal game) - like, what team does that?”

But the Crusaders couldn't muster anything like that against the hard-hitting Cardinals. St. Bernard's has a talented, mobile quarterback in Jack Rice, who has offers from Sacramento State and the Air Force Academy.

Rice finished with 94 yards on the ground and 225 yards passing with three touchdowns, though his numbers were padded by two long scoring passes in the final 4½ minutes, after the game had gone to a running clock.

“Remember ‘The Best of Times' with Kurt Russell?” Cronin said. “He reminds me of Kurt Russell in ‘The Best of Times,' before he came back. He's a tough guy, and he runs super hard.”

Cronin singled out Dural for his defensive work. Knowing that St. Bernard's would be spreading the field with five receivers and throwing on most downs, the Newman defensive coaches slated Dural for a lot of man coverage, with no help. He responded with a big game.

The chilly night did not start as scripted for Cardinal Newman. On the game's first possession, St. Bernard's Isaac Drake got open behind the secondary and Rice hit him in stride for a 60-yard touchdown. The Cardinals blocked the extra point, but still they trailed 6-0.

No one panicked on the Newman sidelines.

“When you play open teams like that, they're gonna score,” Cronin said. “You've got to kind of play your defense and just stay with what you believe in. I thought we were gonna give up at least two deep plays.”

Cardinal Newman didn't have any trouble keeping pace. Of course, it helps when your offense spends most of its time in enemy territory. The first four times they had the ball, the Cardinals started at the St. Bernard's 47, the St. Bernard's 29 (following a fumble recovery by Dural), the St. Bernard's 46 and the St. Bernard's 20 (after a failed fake punt by the Crusaders). Newman scored every time to mount a 27-6 lead.

Kicker Jack Murray booted a 44-yard field goal as the first half clock expired to push the advantage to 30-6.

Brookshire scored Cardinal Newman's first three touchdowns on keepers, and used his arm for the next three, connecting on scoring passes of 33 yards to Damian Wallace, 43 yards to Chauncey LeBerthon and 33 yards to Kyle Carinalli.

Brookshire wound up completing 10 of 14 passes for 189 yards and three touchdowns, and running for 82 yards on 13 carries. Those are modest numbers for the senior, but he was involved in a lot of big plays.

“He does everything,” Wallace said of Brookshire. “Anything you ask him to do, he does. He went out there tonight and played defense. One of our linebackers got hurt.”

All three receiver were wide open.

“We obviously have a great receiving corps,” Cronin said. “I don't think you can man Damian and Chauncey and Kyle and Sammy (Brossard) for a full game; they're gonna get behind you. We knew they were gonna try to stop the run and send everybody at us. We had to hit some big throws on them, and we got lucky enough to do that. And Jordon, being the great senior quarterback that he is, made some big plays for us.”

Things got weird late in the game. With the Cardinals way ahead and trying to run out the clock, Rice threw a screen pass to Drake, and the athletic receiver outran everyone down the left sideline for a 68-yard touchdown. The two teamed up again on the 2-point conversion. Then the Crusaders recovered an onside kick, and Rice immediately lobbed a 49-yard scoring throw to Bryce Gratz.

It was 44-21 with 3:11 remaining, but would get no closer.

It was an impressive win against a program that won a CIF state V-A championship two years ago.

Now Cardinal Newman is on a mission to bring home a state title of its own.

“The goal was never to stop here,” Dural said. “The goal was to see our full potential and take this as far as we can possibly go. And so we're still on course to do that. Who knows where it will take us, right?”