The Serra High School Cavaliers beat rival Narbonne High School Gauchos in a high scoring high-octane close game that the Serra Cavaliers won in overtime, 41-40. The story? All the scoring was done by future Arizona Wildcats.
It was one of the best football games I have ever attended, and I saw a glimpse of what the Arizona football program class of 2016 is all about; pure excitement.
It was a rivalry game between two top 10 California high school football teams; Narbonne High School ranked No. 6 (1-2), and Serra High School (3-1) ranked No. 9. Would there be an upset? I was there to watch our three Arizona football commits and one recruit play on Friday night (Khalil Tate, DeVaughn Cooper, and Sean Riley, recruit Brandon Burton). I was in for a treat.
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While standing in the ticket line to get my eight dollar ticket, I decided to interview some of the Narbonne students. I asked them if they knew Sean and DeVaughn and if they knew that they were future Wildcats. They knew of the players, had a lot of great things to say about the way they played, but none of them knew that they committed to the U of A. Well, now they know.
After getting my ticket, I made the trek to the visitors side of the stadium. I finally found my seat, which couldn’t have been any better. It was on the 50-yard line in the midst of the quarterbacks family in the Serra Alumni section. Khalil’s dad Brian is a Serra Alumni and second generation Serra legacy. Tonight was Khalil’s mom Lesli Tate’s birthday, and he couldn’t have delivered a better gift for his mom.
The Serra fans are a tight group filled with Alumni who go way back, and they have a lot of fun together. I can’t even begin to tell you how enjoyable it is to watch a game with them. It had been a half hour since I had parked my car on a handball court, and the hassle was all worth it as I couldn’t have found myself in a better place to watch the game.
Arizona Wildcats
It seemed throughout the game that the only players scoring were future Arizona Wildcats! And they were scoring over and over again. There were twelve touchdowns scored and all but two were made by future Wildcats. That’s TEN total.
The start of the game was all Wildcats; it was Cooper who started the scoring spree with his first 50+ yard touchdown, it didn’t take me long to start being impressed. On the second play in the following series, Khalil answered with his first of six touchdowns. He faked a handoff, then faked a pass, and he kept the ball. First he bypassed a defender and with the help of his teammate No. 8 Job (pronounced Jobe) McGinty‘s huge block, Tate ran 51 yards in quickly for the score.
I won’t go into each and every one of the ten touchdowns, but I cannot miss the opportunity to bring you the details of Tate’s next touchdown, he ran 70 yards. In the first quarter, Tate had already run 120+ yards!
This touchdown was similar to all the other touchdowns in that after Khalil scored he ended the play standing up proudly looking at everyone around him and into the camera. That said, this play started out a little different from the others. Usually Tate fakes a handoff to his running back first, this time he just kept the ball and started running through the holes. He then broke one easy tackle and continued to rush at an angle beating out not one, not two, but six Narbonne defenders!
Khalil had six defenders running after him, and he outran all of them then broke another tackle at the five-yard-line after a quick pause and ended up dragging three defenders into the end zone with him. Tate was left standing in the end zone looking down puzzled at his defenders who were on the ground looking extremely embarrassed and defeated. Priceless!
When is the last time you have ever seen a quarterback run 70 yards for a touchdown? That’s your future Wildcat ladies and gentleman! In a sea of fans wearing Trojan-wear, Khalil’s inspriational grandma EJ and I were the only fans in the stands wearing our Arizona gear, proudly I might add.
The Gaucho’s evened the Cavaliers score at 34, and with both teams defenses stepping up, neither team was able to score a winning field goal or any other score for that matter. Onto overtime. You could cut the air with an ax, it was so thick. I don’t think there was a fan in the house who was sitting at this point.
The end of the game was spectacular for Serra and heartbreaking for Narbonne. Eric Sondheimer of the LA Times who was also at the game explains in his post game article which made the third page in Saturday morning’s Sports section:
"Tate’s sixth touchdown run of the night, a four-yard scamper in overtime, gave Serra (3-1) a 41-34 lead. Cedric Byrd caught a six-yard touchdown pass from Roman Ale to cut the Cavaliers’ lead to 41-40. But the attempt to win on a two-point conversion fizzled from the start [fumbled snap], and Serra players ran onto the field to celebrate."
I don’t know if I would have used the term ‘ran’ onto the field, they were deliriously running, hugging, high-fiving each other, it looked like a massive band scramble. In the stands? A lot of exuberant cheering from the Serra side, a beautiful 10-minute celebration ensued which the Serra team concluded with their Haka dance!
Yes, they do the Haka ritual just like Arizona, but after they do it after the game. Serra also runs the same offense as the Wildcats.
The following stats for Tate are care of Eric Sondheimer of the LA Times. Keep in mind, Khalil did not play the entire game suffering from some cramping in the second half, which makes these stats even more impressive:
- First half: Khalil Tate rushed for 220 yards in nine carries and scored touchdowns on runs of 51, 70, 27 and five yards
- Game: Khalil Tate rushed for 295 yards in 25 carries and added 195 yards passing (490 total yards)
Dave Thorpe of the Daily News brings you the Narbonne Gauchos stats:
- DeVaughn Cooper had eight catches for 182 yards and four touchdowns
- Sean Riley had 20 rushes for 119 yards
When you weren’t hearing, ‘Tate’ or ‘Cooper’ over the loud speaker, you heard the name ‘Riley.’ Here’s a play that was crucial for Narbonne to make, and Riley came through:
A grand total of 791 total offensive yards were racked up between these three future Wildcats by the end of the game.
You may be thinking to yourself, ‘hey, this is just a high school football game!’ Well, it is a high school football game, but not just any football game, this was a game full of future Wildcats, Bruins, Trojans, and more. Heck, there were at least three current Serra Alumni who are current USC Trojan football players on the Serra sidelines supporting the team during the game.
DeVaughn Cooper, Khalil Tate, Sean Riley, Brandon Manumaleuna after the Narbonne vs Serra HS FB Game – Sept 18. 2015- Photo by Shereen Rayan
Keep in mind what coach Rich Rod reminded us the other day; incoming Arizona freshman are prepared to start coming into college. It did seem close to a college game to me; the tackles were fierce, and the skill on the field was something to behold.
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I noticed some interesting things during this particular high school football game. What struck me as intriguing was that the announcer started broadcasting the plays by both teams in the first half, but in the second half, he announced only Narbonne’s.
On top of that, the Narbonne band, which was pretty darn good, played while Serra had the ball in play, and this continued throughout the second half. The Serra alumni were the first to notice it, and it created a lot of chatter from the stands. The Gaucho band didn’t play when their team was on the field, by the way, curious.
On the one hand, I think the referee should have stopped play and warned the band of possible penalties. On the other hand, it’s a great experience for Tate to play with stands full of distractions. Either way, nothing seems to phase this young man who is a mere 16 years old and will be 17 in late October.
After the game, I made my way down to the field. And I was greeted by Khalil, who gave me a great big hug, I honestly felt I was part of the team, and it was so fun to share in his sheer joy. My next venture was to find Sean and DeVaughn.
The Gauchos were involved in a very long on-field team meeting; you would think it was never going to end. In some way, I think it helped the team grapple with this loss which probably rests on the Narbonne’s coaches shoulders. I found DeVaughn, and he found Sean, and the two of them let me know Khalil would have to come to them, after all it was their home turf. It was all in fun, the three finally got together, and we got our pictures.
Narbonne coach, Brandon Manumaleuna, is a former Arizona Football player. After the game, we got him into the photo with his fellow future Wildcats.
There are six games or so left in the High School season before playoffs, ZonaZealots wishes all our future Arizona Wildcats luck!
For all of Khalil Tate highlights, follow the link in this tweet:
"Great teamwork Cavs!!!"
More highlights of the game. Look for DeVaughn Cooper No 1 and Sean Riley No. 2 in green and Khalil Tate No. 14 in white:
Next: Arizona Football: Opposing ‘Coaches Gone Wild’ VIDEO included!