It’s all to play for in SoCal’s new Premier League after La Costa Canyon defeated Cathedral Catholic 43-33 Saturday in Carlsbad.
This was a close one throughout. LCC threatened the Dons’ line early on and Cathedral battled hard to keep the Mavericks out.
And in fact some five minutes later it would be Cathedral that scored, launching off a lineout, and quickly going wide before prop Will McDermott got a flat pass and charged over.
LCC answered almost immediately when fullback Kai Molldrem broke a tackle and cantered in. the Mavericks held the lion’s share of the territory for several minutes after that but couldn’t get close enough to secure points.
Cathedral showcased their passing skill to get close and then as the forwards worked hard to consolidate center Kingston Hawkins snapped off a back-handed pass to hooker Nicholas Ocon on the wing.
Trent Boyle hit a well-taken conversion for a 12-5 lead.
Once again LCC answered quickly, punishing a CC penalty by taking the lineout and sending their forwards to hit the line. No. 8 Luke Hensley picked up to drive over. Max Ricono converted to tied it up.
Just before halftime LCC charged over to potentially get that lead, but the Dons were up for it and held the Mavericks up in-goal. So the teams switched sides at 12-12.
About three minutes into the second half LCC finally did take the lead when Hensley swooped in to intercept a pass out wide and charge in from about 45 meters. Off the restart the Mavericks the ball bounced to prop Henry Mallory on the wing. He showed an excellent turn over pace as a front-rower and he was gone for 60 meters and a try. Cathedral sent about five players to win that restart and probably would have benefited from having at least one player just standing off to gather a loose ball … or catch a loose ballcarrier.
Conversion good and LCC led 26-12.
