Piedmont high school’s football team delivered a shutout win on Sept. 4 against visiting St. Mary’s while the offense totaled 306 yards in a 28-0 victory over the Panthers.
The Highlanders led 7-0 at halftime before adding 21 points in the second half. Piedmont finished with 160 total rushing yards and 146 passing yards, balancing their offense while struggling with injured receivers.
“When you shut a team out, that says a lot about how you played, your focus, how hard you worked in practice, the tackling, all of those things,” head coach Jordan Seiden said.
Seiden said the receivers had been one of the team’s strengths heading into the season. Piedmont responded to the roster shift by leaning heavily on its running game.
“We had to make some adjustments because we’re down some injuries to our receiver core,” Seiden said. “The running game came together.”
Senior Rehan Mumtaz was named Piedmont’s player of the game after the victory. Through two games, Mumtaz has averaged 130 rushing yards and 50 receiving yards per game.
“I’m really glad our team was able to come together and execute.” Mumtaz said. “Our line did a really good job and I’m very grateful for that.”
Added Seiden, “Rehan is just incredible. He’s having the kind of senior year that we all had hoped he would have.”
The defensive effort from the Highlanders was especially significant after Piedmont had allowed 28 points in their season opener to Napa. Piedmont now turns its attention to Salesian, which they have yet to defeat at the varsity level.
“I’m definitely looking forward to seeing Salesian,” Mumtaz said. “If we go out there on Friday and execute properly, there should be no worries.”
This will be the third consecutive year the teams have met.
“We haven’t beaten them yet on varsity,” Seiden said, “but I’m confident we can come out and have a good week of practice.”
The Highlanders will look to build on their shutout when they face Salesian at 7 p.m. on Sept. 11 at Witter Field.