Piedmont High School’s girls football team has spent the latter part of the season almost getting to the goal. It was a similar story on Oct. 21 when the Highlanders closed out the home portion of their schedule at Witter Field.
Piedmont celebrated its seniors before the game, then went out and battled Berkeley to the final whistle before falling, 6-2. Elspeth Grippando scored the Highlanders points on safety when she pulled Whitney Borovicka’s flag in the end zone with just 43 seconds left in the game.
Grippando missed the first matchup against Berkeley, back on Sept. 30 when the Yellowjackets recorded a 33-0 win. She has since been moved to the pass rushing position.
“I really like rushing the quarterback,” she said. “It’s nice to get the sack and help the team. I think the defense is really strong this year. The rush is perfect for me because I can just chase people.”
That gave Piedmont one final chance to try to win the game but Edie Elmquist’s desperation fourth down pass was intercepted by Alexandra Forbush.
Piedmont quarterback Edie Elmquist (5) fakes a handoff to Kalyani Spiekerman (25). Piedmont lost to Berkeley in its final home game of the year.
Berkeley (9-11, 7-5 West Alameda County Conference) got its score in the first half when Shayla Kerr took a pass from Sydney Boone for a 14-yard touchdown with about eight minutes left. That came after Farah Disston intercepted an Elmquist pass and returned it to the Highlanders 24.
Otherwise, the Piedmont defense was stout. Cyntiche Kouadio made a key fourth down tackle on a fourth-and-eight early in the game. Grippando did the same on a fourth-and-four on the Yellowjackets next possession. Grippando had another sack on a third-and-three in the second half forcing Berkeley to give up the ball. And Dahlia Osman intercepted a Boone pass in the second half.
Piedmont took possession after that pick at its 33. The Highlanders drove down to the Yellowjackets 3 but couldn’t punch the ball in, though the field position for Berkeley set up Grippando’s safety.
“We kept it exciting in the end,” Piedmont coach Beth Black said. She added that Elmquist has been improving as a quarterback.
“We’re watching a quarterback who can now throw the ball farther and a lot more accurately than she could at the beginning of the season and she needs receivers who can match her,” she said. “We’ve got an offense that has become more aggressive and we’re holding people down but we can’t have any misses.”
Piedmont is now 5-10, 2-6 with a regular season finale on Oct. 23 at Arroyo.
On Oct. 17, the Highlanders lost 12-6 at San Leandro. Elmquist hit Dorothy Nemeth for the touchdown in the first half. Osman intercepted three passes.
On Oct. 15, Piedmont lost at home to Alameda, 22-7. Fujimoto returned an interception for the Highlanders score and Elmquist connected with Nemeth on the extra point.
On Oct. 10, Piedmont lost at Encinal, 22-6. Grippando had three sacks to lead the defense. Elmquist threw a touchdown pass to Alma Ruberto early in the second half.
On Oct. 8, host Castro Valley recorded an 18-0 win.
Piedmont recorded back-to-back wins over Mt. Eden on the road on Oct. 2 (13-12) and at home against Tennyson on Oct. 3 (7-6). Prior to that came the blowout loss at Berkeley.
On Sept. 26, the Highlanders beat Hayward on the road, 19-14.
On Sept. 24, they defeated visiting San Leandro, 14-12.
On Sept. 19, host Alameda beat Piedmont 20-0.