Piedmont High School’s boys football team beat Willits 28-10 in the North Coast Section semifinals at Witter Field on Nov. 21.
The second-seeded Highlanders are now 8-4. The Wolverines finished the season 9-3. It was a match of many penalties, as officials threw 19 penalty flags throughout the course of the game.
“(The game) started a little rough, but we kept fighting through it, kept playing, we had some bad penalties that put us in bad positions, but we just kept playing hard, offense figured it out and defense had probably their best game of the season,” head coach Jordan Seiden said. “(Defense) made timely tackles, timely stops.”
The Highlanders were proving to handle the cold temperature in the mid-50s better than the Wolverines, with wide receiver Cash Panico and running back Xavier Henderson going back and forth with receptions and runs down the field.
“I didn’t put any points up on the board, but I had some good third-down conversions and clutch catches,” Panico said.
Running back Rehan Mumtaz was subbed in and scored the first touchdown of the game with three minutes left in the first quarter. Kicker Matias Seelenberger’s conversion was good, and the score was 7-0.
With the Wolverines in possession at the start of the second quarter, the pressure was on for Piedmont. Willits worked the ball to Piedmont’s 46 before Ricky Britton busted loose for a 37-yard touchdown run.
The Highlanders began their next possession on their own 10, utilizing runs to Henderson and Mumtaz down the field. At the 50, quarterback Jimmy Lagios made a deep pass to wide receiver Diego Hurwitz on third-and-eight, bringing the ball to Willit’s four. Henderson then made the run for the touchdown with 30 seconds left in the half, making the score 14-7 Piedmont at halftime.
“All credit to my team, you know, I wouldn’t have scored those touchdowns without my linemen,” Henderson said. “I always like to give credit to my linemen.”
The Highlanders kicked off to the Wolverines to begin the third quarter, trapping them on their own 35 before forcing them to punt at fourth-and-19.
“The defense played pretty amazingly, as we were able to shut down their run game and eventually their passing game,” safety Jason Shum said.
Said Seiden, “Our tackling got better, our execution got better, guys stepped up and we just started playing better as a team.”
The teams traded turnovers, with Lagios throwing an interception in the Willits end zone and the Wolverines fumbling the ball right back. Colby Hong forced the fumbled for the Highlanders, giving them the ball on the Willits 18. However, Seelenberger missed a 35-yard field goal attempt. “(The ball) wasn’t quite down when I kicked it,” Seelenberger said.
The Wolverines struck back with a 34-yard field goal from Damian Reiter, making the score 14-10 with two minutes left in the third quarter. “I did well, except for one big completion that I allowed which led to them scoring a field goal,” Shum said.
Piedmont ended the third quarter by driving from the Highlanders 36 to the Willits’ 32. Panico started the fourth quarter with a reception, bringing the ball to Willits’ 21 before Henderson ran the ball to the Wolverines 5. Henderson then ran the ball for his second touchdown, making the score 21-10 Piedmont with ten minutes left in the fourth quarter.
“We had a little talk in the locker room, we got things going up, and we realized this team cannot play with us,” Henderson said.
Henderson scored the final touchdown of the game, making the score 28-10 with just under two minutes left in the fourth quarter.
“I was just thinking, I gotta go,” Henderson said. “Gotta punch this in. We couldn’t win it last year, so we gotta do it for our guys.”
The Highlanders now advance to the NCS championship against Middletown on Nov. 28 at Justin-Siena-Napa. Piedmont lost at top-seeded Middletown in the second game of the year, 32-17.
“Everyone played well, we came out here and we did our job, we got the dub and now we are going to the championships,” Panico said.