In a much-anticipated cross-country high school matchup, Charlotte Catholic defeated Cathedral Catholic 34-19 Saturday night in San Diego.
The #14-ranked Charlotte Catholic Cougars won the field position battle and got a massive performance from flyhalf Luke Zehmke to win the game.
The game began with the Cougars pinning the Dons back in their 22. Cathedral defended well and were able to kick clear, but Charlotte came right back, working closer to the line before center Keanan Teeter fought his way over. Zehmke converted and it was 7-0.
Cathedral came right back and clearly felt they had a chance to burn Charlotte on the edge. Some fluid ball movement and big power runs from the likes of flanker Adrian Aybar got them close. Then some swift passing through Dylan Trower, Kingston Hawkins, and Will Reiter set up Miles Larson on the wing to dive in at the corner.
So that made it 7-5, but after that the Cougars spent more time in the Cathedral half than the Dons did in Charlotte's. Zehmke's boot had a lot to do with that, and in fact Cathedral almost misplayed a kick into a try for Charlotte Catholic.
Cathedral did find some attacking chances, and after opting to tap on a penalty went wide again. They got all the way down to the tryline, and over it, but were penalized for a double-movement. The penalty tat led to the tap move also produced a 20-minute red card for Charlotte.
But you'd hardly know it, as the Cougars marched right back down the field. They took the lineout on a penalty and mauled it. Cathedral was penalized and yellow-carded for collapsing the maul, and Charlotte continued their attack, crashing to the line. Finally captain and scrumhalf Andrew Kuhn saw the pillar defender turn a little to the outside, and sniped through the gap that was left.
Try Charlotte Catholic, and with Zehmke's conversion it was 14-5.
Charlotte Catholic continued the pressure with Teeter and his midfield partner Thomas McKillop, aided by flanker Dan Caple, all testing the Cathedral defense. They were poised to score once more when instead Hawkins intercepted the final pass and hoofed the ball downfield. He chased it, gathered it up, and lofted a pass inside for Larson to take and race in for a 95-meter try.
It was, perhaps, against the run of play, but that means little. With the conversion it was 14-12 and that's how the first half ended.
