Carlmont falls to Monte Vista Christian in Saturday night barnburner

Carlmont showed off some serious return yards in Saturday’s non-league football matchup. And the legs of junior return man Austin Sotto were almost enough to carry the Scots past Monte Vista Christian-Watsonville.

Almost.

In the end, though, Sotto’s consistent chunks of return yards weren’t enough to overcome the first varsity start of junior quarterback Evan Vessey, who led the Mustangs to a 40-37 victory in a Saturday night barnburner at Bruce Usher Stadium.

“We have some players that can do some really good things,” Carlmont head coach Eric Rado said. “We have to do some better things during this bye week.”

Carlmont’s pass coverage was tested time and again, and Vessey consistently came out on top. The junior made his varsity debut Aug. 29 in Monte Vista’s Week 1 loss to Piedmont Hills-San Jose, taking over late for senior Maximo Arce. In stepping into the starting role, Vessey was 24-of-37 passing for 433 yards, a touchdown and two interceptions.

“He’s a gunslinger,” Monte Vista-Christian head coach Spencer Ferrari-Wood said. “He’s not afraid to take shots, and that’s kind of what I want from our offense. Just trust our receivers — we’ve got some good players. But he stepped up tonight.”

In a game that saw four lead changes, Carlmont rallied from a 14-3 deficit in the second quarter, spurred by a pick-6 from senior cornerback David Baltazar. With the Mustangs facing third-and-8 from their own 40, Baltazar read a Vessey pass toward the sideline and timed it perfectly to the catch for his first varsity interception, taking it in stride and dashing to the end zone.

“I noticed that he was coming out on an out route,” Baltazar said. “And I saw the ball in the air, I jumped up. I knew it was my ball and I took it home.”

Every time something went the Scots’ way, however, Vessey and the Mustangs had an answer.

Monte Vista senior Boston Ashe returned the ensuing kickoff 90 yards for a touchdown. Carlmont answered with two scores, and swung back ahead with 1:46 left in the third quarter on a 42-yard touchdown pass from Carlmont’s own gunslinger, junior quarterback Brody Zirelli, to Sotto. Monte Vista fired back on its next possession, taking the lead for good with a nine-play, 69-yard scoring drive capped by a 1-yard scoring run from sophomore Reece Walker.

The Scots had more late chances to overcome Vassey’s big night. The most unlikely came in the final five minutes after the Mustangs took a 34-22 lead on Walker’s second scoring run in as many possessions, a 4-yard jaunt with 5:32 to play.

That’s when Sotto added to an explosive and exceptional night by returning the ensuing kickoff 40 yards to midfield. Two plays later, Zirelli, connected with Sotto on a quick slant over the middle and the junior speedster weaved through two defenders for a 50-yard score to close the deficit to 34-28 with 4:37 to play.

Sotto finished with eight catches for 176 yards and two TDs. On returns, he gained over 100 more total yards, including setting up the Scots’ first possession of the night by taking a punt at the Carlmont 31-yard line and running it back to Monte Vista’s 26.

“We made that a big focus,” Rado said, “and we knew that they were going to squib it short. So, we moved our guys up. And the kids were talking like we were going to take one to the house. So, the kids did a really good job with that.”

After Sotto’s second touchdown haul, Carlmont got a gift after senior Sebastian Aguilar’s point-after conversion when Monte Vista was flagged for roughing the kicker. The 15-yard penalty was assessed on the ensuing kickoff, and Carlmont used it to kick it deep and pin the Mustangs to their own 8-yard line.

A Monte Vista three-and-out — capped by a clutch third-down tackle from Carlmont senior cornerback Jacob Ma to drop a short pass completion for a mere 2-yard gain — gave the Scots the ball back at their own 34 with 2:43 to play and all three timeouts remaining, and were intent on riding the hot hand of Zirelli

“Brody’s put in a lot of work,” Rado said. “He’s one of the smartest players I’ve ever coached. He has a really good feel for the game and I love coaching him.”

Zirelli (17-of-28 passing for 231 yards, three TDs and one interception) had one 10-yard pass completion to senior tight end Andy Dent on third down, setting up fourth-and-2 for junior running back Maximiliano La Vrar (20 carries for a game-high 77 yards and one TD) for a 4-yard play-action blast for a first down. After a short 3-yard pickup on first down, however, Zirelli threw incomplete three straight times to turn the ball over on downs.

Monte Vista took over with 1:13 to play, but instead of putting the ball on the ground to run out the clock, Vessey went to the air on two straight plays.

“Honestly, I felt like it came out kind of greedy,” Baltazar said. “Kind of messed up, I’m going to keep it honest. But honestly, they did need a win, they knew what position they needed to put themselves in.”

After a misfire on first down, Vessey sent a long pass downfield on a wing and a prayer, and needed all that when the ball tipped off his receiver’s fingers, then was deflected into the air by a Carlmont defender only to come down in the arms of junior receiver Jordan Ramirez for a 41-yard pickup to the Scots’ 8.

“He kind of threw up a prayer,” Ferrari-Wood said. “And we came down with it, but we kind of let down on it. ... So, we’ll take it any way we can get it.”

On the next play, Arce (16 carries for 76 yards and one TD) legged it in to up the lead to 40-29 with 52 seconds to play.

The Scots weren’t done, though, as Sotto renewed his team’s hopes yet again, this time with a 63-yard kickoff return to the Mustangs’ 20. On the next play, Zirelli hit senior receiver Lucas Robertson for a 20-yard touchdown for the game’s final score with 33 seconds to play. Carlmont attempted an onside kick, but Monte Vista covered it and took a knee on the next play to end it.

Vessey’s best target was Ashe (nine catches for 173 yards and one TD), with the senior working overtime on a number of secondary routes that turned into clutch catches with Vessey eluding consistent pressure from the Carlmont pass rush.

“He’s got a really savvy ability to extend plays,” Ferrari-Wood said. “He’s not a burner, like a speedster, but he can move in the pocket well, extend stuff. He’s kind of Harry Houdini sometimes back there, just magic stuff.”

“I felt like we had a great pass rush,” Carlmont senior defensive tackle Hayden Tonga Ma’ake said, “with (junior defensive tackle) Paul Taumalolo and our first-year senior [defensive end Keith Nguyen]. I really enjoyed how Keith just came out here and was being aggressive. He’s the loudest on the team.”

Ma’ake also mans the center position on offense, with a line bookended by to sophomore tackles, his younger brother Valita Ma’ake and Luis Lainez.

“I love them,” Hayden Tonga Ma’ake said. “They’re both young. My brother ... he’s improved a lot since freshman year, definitely with the help from our coaches ... definitely being very vocal about our mistakes, and helps walk through our plays.”

The Scots showed some leg on special teams as well when they jumped out to a 3-0 lead on their first possession when Aguilar booted a 21-yard field goal.

Monte Vista jumped ahead to start the second quarter on Vessey’s 4-yard touchdown pass. The Mustangs made it 14-3 just before the half on a 7-yard score by Arce.

Following a bye week, Carlmont has one more non-league preseason game in traveling to Sacred Heart Prep, Friday, Sept. 26, for a 7 p.m. start.

“We have a big game against Sacred Heart Prep,” Rado said. “So, we need to clean some things up.”