Piedmont High School’s boys football team has played cleaner games than it did against Washington-Fremont on Oct. 25. But the mistakes didn’t cost the Highlanders as they moved to 7-1 on the season with a 56-20 win at Witter Field.
“Once again, coming out slow,” Highlanders coach Jordan Seiden said. “Not being aggressive and doing our jobs. We weren’t tackling well, missed a bunch of assignments on the first drive. Just moving slow. We got it together. I told the kids and the coaches afterwards this is probably the most unsatisfying 56 point outburst that I’ve been involved in. Not that I’ve been involved in that many.”
Piedmont fell behind 7-0 and then scored the next 35 points to take control of the game. The Huskies looked strong on offense, taking the opening kickoff and marching 59 yards in five plays with quarterback Esean Johnson running the ball in from the 2.
On Piedmont’s first play from scrimmage, Sam Shelby took a reverse and had the ball stripped out of his hands by Johnson. Washington recovered and the Highlanders looked like they might be in trouble. But a Tommy Ashton sack of Johnson grounded the drive and Cash Elmquist blocked Jaden Sandoval’s 37-yard field goal attempt.
Thanks to two fumbles and a mistake, Piedmont had the next three offensive possessions, followed by a one-play Washington possession. First, the Highlanders went 86 yards in 10 plays with Markos Lagios scoring on a 13-yard run. Sam Shelby missed the extra point, and it was 7-6.
On the ensuing kickoff, Zamari Gregory fumbled and Brandon Dicke fell on it for Piedmont at the Husky 37. A quick drive ended on a 20-yard touchdown pass from Lagios to Shelby. Xavier Henderson took a pass from Lagios to convert a two-point conversion. A penalty forced Shelby to kick off from the 25 and though he normally kicks short, this time he kicked deep. The ball rolled to the 4 and Joseph Guerra did not pick it up. Instead, Ashton fell on the ball, which is live on a free kick. On the next play, Ashton ran in for the touchdown.
Shelby kicked the next kickoff out of bounds but on the first play from scrimmage, Dicke stripped Gregory of the ball and Faisal Malik recovered. That set up a 37-yard touchdown pass from Lagios to Shelby. The first quarter wasn’t over and it was 28-7.
Another Husky fumble ended their next possession and Piedmont converted on a 19-yard pass from Lagios to Shelby. The senior caught five passes for 150 yards and the three touchdowns. Seiden said Shelby set the school record for career receiving yards in the game with a total over 2,000 yards.
Lagios completed eight of 18 passes for 200 yards and the three touchdown passes to Shelby. Dicke finished with six solo and five assisted tackles including one for a loss, along with the forced fumble and fumble recovery. Ashton had five solo and five assisted including a sack and a forced fumble.
Seiden said he is trying to focus his players on the bigger picture. They have two more regular season games with a chance to win the Mission Division of the West Alameda County Conference and the North Coast Section playoffs beyond that.
“You put up 56 points, you can’t be terrible,” Seiden said. “As a coach, we’re trying to prepare for bigger fish to fry. If you make those mistakes in the playoffs, were going to get beat bad. We can’t play like that and expect to do well.”
Piedmont faces Kennedy-Fremont on Nov. 2 at 2 p.m. at Tak Fudenna Stadium.
It was an incredible game. Once the team started to gel, there was no stopping the mighty Highlanders.