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| Written by Marc Aceves | Patterson Irrigator | |
| Saturday, 08 November 2008 | |
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Tigers suffer disappointing — if entertaining — loss to Central
For nine weeks, the Western Athletic Conference football race has been “Fight Club,” the sequel. It was Patterson against Central Catholic on Friday at Patterson Community Stadium. For one half, it might as well have been Frazier and Ali. Still, despite the best efforts of the Tigers, perennial powerhouse Central walked away victorious, 48-35. “It’s never a good thing to lose, especially when it’s a league game,” Patterson coach Rob Cozart said. “But we can’t dwell on it.” Patterson’s Malik Okitukunda jolted the Tigers (7-2, 3-1 WAC) early, returning the game’s opening kickoff to near midfield. Senior quarterback Daniel Reza struck three plays later, keeping the ball on an option play and sprinting up the sideline for a 39-yard touchdown run. Central (8-1, 4-0) ran the ball at the Tigers on its opening drive, but its air attack eventually proved to be the crux of Patterson’s dismay. The Raiders strung together a 10-play, 88-yard drive, capping it with a 44-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Dylan Swartz to receiver David Biscevic. The Tigers quickly answered, countering with their own deep-ball threat, receiver Ronyea Ellington. Ellington (9 catches, 199 yards) had a pair of catches for 73 yards on the Tigers’ second possession. The latter grab set teammate Emmanuel Brooks up for a 1-yard touchdown, giving Patterson a 14-7 lead. Central evened the score on its next drive, an 11-play, 80-yard beast that exhausted the remainder of the first quarter and bled into the second. Swartz found receiver C.J. Cason for a 22-yard touchdown strike, evening the score at 14-14. “They were keeping us off balance with the pass,” Cozart said. “We couldn’t cover early, and our defense never really clicked for us.” Central took the lead later in the second quarter. Swartz (15-of-21, 290 yards, four touchdowns) once again found Cason, this time wide open over the middle for an 18-yard touchdown. The Raiders missed the extra point but grabbed a 20-14 advantage. Brooks caught the ensuing kickoff at the Tigers’ 18-yard line, and sprinted up the sideline for an 82-yard touchdown return. Patterson reclaimed the lead, 21-20. “We did some good things,” Cozart said. “The pass game was working, but we had too many big plays that we gave up on defense.” Central needed less than a minute to respond. Swartz again went airborne, quickly piecing together four passes up the field, and capping the drive with a 5-yard touchdown pass to receiver James Orth on a fade route. The Raiders made good on a two-point conversion, taking a 28-21 lead. Patterson squeezed a near-score out of the first half’s remaining 19 seconds. Reza (18-of-33, 311 yards, two touchdowns) scrambled, avoiding tackles to buy enough time to fling a Hail Mary pass into the back of the Raiders’ end zone. Ellington made a miraculous catch, just getting both of his feet down and inbounds. But the referee determined that Reza had crossed the line of scrimmage before the throw, and a penalty flag was thrown. The controversial call cost Patterson a chance to tie the game and to perhaps carry momentum into the second half. “I didn’t think that I stepped over (the line of scrimmage),” Reza said. “But the referee is going to call what he sees.” Instead, it was Central that came out firing in the third quarter. T.J. Belton (23 carries, 125 yards) scored on a 21-yard run. Swartz called his own number one possession later, scampering through the Tigers’ defense for a 10-yard touchdown and a 42-21 lead. “At halftime, we were right there in it,” Cozart said. “We were a bad call away from being tied up at 28.” Reza connected on a 61-yard touchdown pass to Ellington, cutting the deficit to 42-28. But the Tigers could not find an answer for the relentless passing game of the Raiders. Central used a combination of deep and short routes to confuse the Tigers’ secondary and whittle away at the fourth-quarter clock. And, with 9 minutes, 16 seconds remaining in the game, the Raiders managed to find the end zone again. This time Belton punched in a 1-yard score, and following another botched extra point attempt, the Raiders were on top, 48-28. Patterson refused to quit and added one final score to their game. Reza hit Wyatt Young for a 5-yard score, but it was too little, too late. Despite the loss, the Tigers are already guaranteed a spot in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division V playoffs later this month, thanks to their 3-0 start in WAC play. Still, Patterson has one more league test before the season draws to a close, the finale at Hilmar (8-1, 3-1) on Friday. “We don’t want to go into the playoffs limping,” Cozart said. “We have to go on the road and play a very good Hilmar team. “We’re going to have our work cut out for us.” Contact Marc Aceves at 892-6187 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .
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