Campolindo 20, Marin Catholic 18

The Stars: Campolindo quarterback Brett Stephens finished 17 of 27 for 246 yards and a touchdown. He also led the Cougars seven-play, game winning drive with only 2:10 on the clock. Stephens favorite target Griffin Piatt again excelled with eight catches for 108 yards and a touchdown. However, the star of all stars was sophomore Christian Antenzana, who kicked the game-winning 21-yard field with no time remaining on the clock.

The Turning Point: Campolindo had maintained the lead for 46 minutes but saw Marin Catholic pull ahead, 18-17, on a field goal with 2:18 remaining in the fourth quarter. After the ensuing kickoff, Stephens was tasked with marching his team from the their own 36-yard line into field goal range for the win. On the first play of the drive, Stephens connected with Mason Windatt for 44-yards and the Cougars were in range at the Wildcats’ 20. After another completion and facemask penalty again Marin Catholic, the Cougars had the ball on the 10 with under a minute left in the game. The Cougars played it safe and ran three straight dives up the middle, finally setting up Antenzana for a 21-yard field goal on a 4^th-and-goal from the four. As soon as Antenzana made contact it seemed he started celebrating, and Cougar nation rejoiced as the ball split the uprights.

The Quote: "You can see just how special this night was. There was something magical about this year, these kids, these fans…the best school with the most spirit. This type of electricity in the game tonight, it just busted loose in here and this is just a big celebration for our community. This is once in a lifetime for our community.” — Campolindo coach Kevin Macy.

What's Next? Campolindo awaits the CIF’s decision whether they get to represent Northern California in the Division III state championship.

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“I BELIEVE THAT WE WILL WIN!”

The Campolindo High fanatics could barely control their joy. They all gathered over the A’s dugout at the O.co Coliseum and within seconds of Christian Antenzana’s kick splitting the uprights and giving the Cougars a 20-18, NCS Division II championship victory over Marin Catholic, the players raced off the field to celebrate with their comrades.

The players and fans repeated their signature “I believe” chant, while the team carried their coach Kevin Macy on their shoulders as he thrust the NCS championship plaque into the air for all to see.

As Macy said, they cut loose. 

“I just thought about our family, all we have accomplished all year, all of the hard work,” said Antenzana of his mindset before the game-winning boot. “It felt good, the snap was good and the line held. It felt amazing.”

Antenzana converted on both of his field goal attempts, one from 30-yards and the title clincher from 21.

Campo led for most of the game, even though it was one of the school’s sloppiest contests of the year. Playing on the Raiders home field, the Cougars reverted to Raider ways and drew penalties in bunches with nine false starts and 15 flags overall.

Campo misfortunes were equaled by the Wildcats lack of ball security. The team lost three fumbles, including one back breaker, with the ball at Cougar six-yard line.

Marin Catholic started their comeback in the second half with a 54-yard touchdown pass from Jared Goff to Ryan Farney. Goff found Farney with a precision pass splitting the corner and safety and the receiver caught the ball in-stride blazing past the defense into the end zone.

The Wildcats failed to convert on the two-point conversion and trailed 17-15.

The Marin Catholic defense stiffened and forced a punt on the next Campo possession and suddenly the Wildcats had the ball on the Cougars 49-yard line with 7:11 remaining in the 4^th. 

Eight plays and nearly five minutes later, the Wildcats drove all the way down to the eight-yard line where Chris Hill converted a 25-yard field goal to put Marin up 18-17 with 2:18 remaining.

“We had so many kids limping, beat up and hurt,” said Macy. “When we lost our center we had a lot of fumbled snaps and off-sides. We did not know what was left in us. The guys just keep finding it. I don’t know where they find it.”

The Cougars struck first with a seven-yard pass from Brett Stephens to Griffin Piatt. The tandem has victimized teams all season and tonight was no different.

Piatt used his size and tremendous leaping ability to snatch passes out of the air over Wildcats’ defenders. He was Stephens favorite target on long third downs and helped Campo come up with some key first down conversions.

“(Piatt) does so much for us in such a quiet way,” said Macy. “We could not get the snaps off, so we had to get basic [in our play calling]. He just made huge plays for us.”

Campo’s second score came on a two-play drive, the first play that set-up the short 3-yard touchdown was a 42-yard bootleg and throw by Stephens to Connor Rosenbaum. Stephens routinely was at his best improvising on broken plays outside of the pocket.

On the first play of the game-winning drive, Stephens found himself scrambling for his life to avoid a sack. While moving to his right, he somehow spotted Mason Windatt completely uncovered, 25-yards down the field, and threw across his body to his receiver. Windatt caught the ball and forced his way up the field to the Marin Catholic 20-yard line eventually setting up the game-winning kick.

The Cougars moved to 14-0 and have a real shot at claiming the D-III state championship bowl berth in Southern California at the Home Depot Center.

“I cannot even think about that,” said Macy of his teams’ state title aspirations. “I do not know how we continue to do it, when it seems like all of the other teams have so much more than we do.”

Macy loves more than anything playing the role of the downtrodden underdog, but Saturday under the bright NFL lights his teams’ defense effectively shutdown one of the state’s most potent offenses.

The Wildcats were fresh off a, 42-6, shellacking of Encinal and it had outscored their previous rounds playoff opponents 54-7 and 42-7 respectively. In fact, the Wildcats had not played a single close game since September 17^th against Berkeley.

“This is great for the kids and community. You can just hear that student body going nuts,” said Macy. “Maybe its just one of those years where it’s meant to be. We are just a blessed team right now.”

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Campolindo 20, Marin Catholic 18

Campolindo              7          7          3          3—          20

Marin Catholic          2          7          6          3—         18

5:55, 1^st: C -- Piatt 7 pass from Stephens (Antezana kick)

1:43, 1^st: MC -- Safety, Petite tackled in end zone

8:19, 2^nd: C -- Vega 3 run (Antezana kick)

8:05, 2^nd: MC -- Celis 98 kick return (Hill kick)

3:18, 3^rd: C -- FG 30 Antezana

2:39, 3^rd: MC -- Farney 54 pass from Goff (pass failed)

2:18, 4^th: MC -- FG 25 Hill

0:00, 4^th: C -- FG 21 Antezana

Records: Marin Catholic 13-1. Campolindo 14-0.