Statement win: Riordan holds off multiple Pittsburg rallies from 21-point deficits

SAN FRANCISCO — Archbishop Riordan sure knows how to give its fans a scare.

The Crusaders are an exceptionally talented team that can get out to huge leads against most opponents. But if those opponents are game for a fight, recent history suggests there could be opportunities to rally.

Riordan built a three-touchdown lead on multiple occasions in its 42-35 win over Pittsburg on Saturday in San Francisco, but the Pirates simply would not go away.

Pittsburg whittled deficits of 21-0 in the first half and 42-21 in the second to single scores and had a shot to tie with a Hail Mary. But JaVale Jones’ final pass was batted down harmlessly at the goal line on the final play as Riordan survived with a narrow win.

“Our mentality was, ‘We just have to keep pushing,’” said Riordan running back Adonyae Brown, who ran for three touchdowns, including a 78-yard score on the second play of the game. “The game’s not over till it’s over, till there’s zero seconds on the clock.”

The Crusaders (3-0) certainly tested that theory on Saturday afternoon. Brown’s long rushing TD kicked off a prolific first half for Riordan, one that saw the San Francisco school take a 14-0 lead on Michael Mitchell Jr.’s quick slant pass to Judge Nash, who outraced Pittsburg’s defense for a 92-yard score.

Nash came through again with a 34-yard TD catch on the first play of the second quarter, giving Riordan quite the early cushion to lean on.

“A lot of the things that happened, a lot of it was mental errors or physical errors,” Pittsburg coach Charlie Ramirez said. “For an inexperienced team, that’s how you end up with that type of first half.”

Pittsburg tried its hardest to bring back the ghosts of last season, when St. Ignatius overcame a 21-0 deficit to beat Riordan in the Sunset District. Pitt first cut into the deficit when RJ Mosley snagged a one-handed, 4-yard catch in the corner of the end zone to make it 21-7.

Then just before the half, Siotame Finau ran in a 1-yard TD that was set up by a 52-yard screen catch-and-run by Mosley.

Riordan found one more score before the break to keep Pitt at bay. With 10 seconds remaining, Mitchell found Kyle Welch for a 31-yard touchdown catch, doubling the deficit and giving the Crusaders some breathing room at the half.

“They’re scared of our vertical game,” Brown said of the Pirates.

But Pitt brought its passing game too. Early in the third quarter, the Pirates responded with another long screen pass, this time a 49-yard score by Mosley.

Then Brown got back in gear to keep Riordan in front. Touching the ball on four of the Crusaders’ final five plays of the drive, Brown gained 33 hard-fought yards and punctuated the sequence with a 2-yard TD run to put Riordan up 35-21.

“It threatened them, because they were light in the box,” Brown said of the Crusaders’ rushing attack. “So I had to show them our run game as well.”

Brown pushed the lead back to 21 with a personal 64-yard drive in the fourth quarter, gaining all 64 yards on three consecutive carries as Riordan punched in a 2-yard TD.

Pitt still wouldn’t give in. Kenneth Ward ran the ensuing kickoff back 75 yards for a score, then caught a 20-yard TD pass from Jones to make it 42-35 Riordan with three minutes to play.

The Pirates forced a punt on their next defensive series and got the ball back with 2:14 remaining. Jones got Pitt down to the Riordan 23-yard line, but the Pirates couldn’t make one final play to send the game to overtime or perhaps win it with a two-point conversion.

“That level of perseverance showed itself in the second half,” Ramirez said. “That’s two weeks in a row that we saw that. It’s great to see. That’s what we’re hanging our hat on.”

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