Clayton Valley crushes Foothill to advance to NCS Division II final
No. 1-seeded Ugly Eagles roll over Foothill again as Omari Taylor scores three touchdowns
CONCORD — Junior Omari Taylor ran for 188 yards and three touchdowns as No. 1 seed Clayton Valley Charter walloped No. 5 Foothill 49-7 Friday night in the North Coast Section Division II semifinals.
The Ugly Eagles amassed 409 net yards rushing in crushing the Falcons by at least 40 points for the second time this season.
Like Clayton Valley Charter’s robust offensive line, defensive tackle Kavika Baumgartner, at 6-foot-2 and 270 pounds, was a relentless presence. He sacked Foothill quarterback Bryce Lombardi for a 15-yard loss in the second quarter. Moreover, the inspired home team limited Foothill to under 100 net yards rushing, 73 of which came on one play near the end of the game.
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“We had a lot of effort, a lot of energy,” Baumgartner said. “A lot of people that were hurt came back, that helped us. We’re not satisfied. We won this game throughout the week at practice. We’re not satisfied. We’re ready to go next week.”
Clearly, Clayton Valley coach Tim Murphy had his team well prepared for the rematch with Foothill.
“It’s really hard to beat a good team twice and we really pushed for them to not have a letdown, and I don’t think they did at all. Mentally they were ready to go,” the coach said.
Murphy almost always goes for it on fourth down. He took his mindset to a new level against the Falcons, stunning the Ugly Eagles’ East Bay Athletic League rival by a converting a fourth-and-53 play on a 73-yard catch-and-run touchdown by fleet receiver Rayshawn Jackson. The remarkable conversion, on basically a dump pass over the middle, to start the fourth quarter upped the lead to 42-0, along with Shane Nelson’s extra point.
“I’m not a big punt guy,” Murphy said with a knowing grin. “I just wanted to get the ball into some kind of better position. Yeah, that was pretty amazing, and Rayshawn obviously made a nice run and got some good blocks.”
Junior Erik Christoffersen also had a big night with touchdown runs of 47 and 25 yards. Taylor had an electrifying 81-yard touchdown scamper with 3:32 left in the first half, sandwiched between his touchdown runs of 2 and 5 yards.
Taylor credited the offensive line for their hard work all season, plus he gave it his all.
“We came and gave a great effort, 110 percent,” Taylor said. “It was amazing. The energy, that’s what my coach was talking about in the weight room. He said we’ve got to give good energy and that’s what we came out and did.”
Foothill had one big highlight. Senior standout Peter Montini, who had a stellar game in a 41-20 win over San Leandro in the first round, finally gave Falcons’ fans something to cheer on a 71-yard touchdown run on a pitch left late in the fourth quarter.
The Ugly Eagles took some lumps in their maiden voyage in the EBAL, but they are hitting stride in the Division II playoffs.
“It’s just the opposite of before. We’d kind of run through league before and then go to playoffs, playing Open playoffs,” Murphy said. “You were playing D-2 schools all year and then you’d go into Open playoffs. Now you’re playing D-1 schools all year and go into D-2 playoffs. Definitely sharpens your sword a lot better in the regular season