The Piedmont High School girls football team came up short in their first-ever North Coast Section playoff game on Oct. 28, falling at Terra Linda, 27-14.
The Highlanders (10-13) entered the fourth quarter with a 14-13 lead but couldn’t hold on as the seventh-seeded Trojans were able to come back. Terra Linda is now 13-8 and will face No. 2 Alhambra in the Division 3 second round on Oct. 31.
“We played hard, they’re a good team,” Piedmont quarterback Edie Elmquist said. “They played clean, we didn’t play up to par but if a few of those passes landed a different way, a few of those flags didn’t get pulled, it [would have gone] the other way.” The junior added, “And it will go the other way next year.”
The teams played a scoreless first quarter before freshman Terra Linda quarterback Mira Weidner scored on a fourth-and-goal from the 1. Piedmont tied it up on the next play when Agatha Filha Gama broke loose down the right
sideline on a 66-yard touchdown run.
The Trojans went back up late in the first half when Weidner hit sophomore center/receiver Piper Stewart for a 29-yard touchdown with 35 seconds left. The conversion failed, giving Terra Linda a 13-7 at the break.
A 43-yard pass from Edie Elmquist to Emma Wendel set Piedmont up at the 5-yard line in the third quarter. An illegal block set the Highlanders back but on third-and-goal from the 16, Elmquist hit Skye Prata for the touchdown. Filha Gama ran the conversion in and Piedmont led, 14-13.
The Highlanders forced consecutive punts but in the fourth quarter, Terra Linda put together a drive. Weidner converted a third down on a run and a penalty on a third-and-long later gave the Trojans a first down at the 7. Weidner then connected with Stewart again for the go-ahead touchdown.
On the two-point conversion, Weidner was looking for Gabby Schecter but the ball bounced off of Schecter and into the hands of Molly Burke. That fortuitous outcome made the score 21- 14.
“They were a really good team,” Stewart said. “We watched a lot of film on them and we’ve been praticing their plays at practice all week. We also practiced their defense. We knew that they start short and drift back.”
Piedmont had a make-or-break drive and was able to convert one fourth down and drive to near midfield. But on a fourth-and-five, Elmquist tried to take off on a scramble. Kaelyn Cifuentes Leiva was able to pull the flag after just three yards. Weidner scored an insurance touchdown on a 29-yard run.
The Highlanders have been making strides in the four years of the program’s existence. Elmquist’s return will be key as well as the development of the receiving corps. The latter made extensive progress over the season.
“It’s great to see our receivers going for the ball,” Elmquist said. “Skye, new this year, goes for the ball. Emma got pulled up (from junior varsity). We have girls that want the ball, go for the ball. It makes a difference that I have girls I can trust to go out there.”
Said Piedmont coach Beth Black, “Those long passes, that’s another level for us to achieve. We’ve done it a few times. There are more reps on that. Now they know, we’ve got a few girls that can do it so it’s continuing that for next season as the next level.”
Elmquist summed up the season. “We made a varsity roster two days before our first game this year,” she said. “There was a lot of growth. Through having two games a week, we made big leaps in little time.”