Mind-boggling Taft comeback attempt comes up short as Morro Bay ekes out Division VI title
By all rights, Morro Bay quarterback Nicky Johnson’s impeccable passing performance, which helped his team build a four-touchdown lead over the Taft Wildcats, should have been the story of Friday night’s win.
Johnson tallied 314 yards with four touchdowns, and was a constant threat to throw on the run or scramble as he picked apart the Taft defense for the Central Section Division VI championship.
However, as Morro Bay sputtered with a 35-6 lead — to the tune of 14 plays for minus-six yards across three drives — Taft quarterback Jackson Berry, who had three rushing scores in the fourth quarter including a 35-yard run as time expired, led the Wildcats to 27 straight points in just under eight minutes.
But the Pirates defense tightened up for one single two-point conversion attempt, Berry’s run left was stopped, and it was still No. 2 Morro Bay (7-6) earning the trophy on No. 1 Taft’s (6-5) home field, following wins over East and Santa Maria-Pioneer Valley.
Taft had beaten Lindsay and Woodlake but its luck ran out against the Pirates — only after a finish that condensed several full games’ worth of drama into less than a quarter.
The Pirates looked dominant from their opening drive, with Johnson making quick read after quick read, scrambling for 22 on fourth-and-7, and ultimately finding Christian Merrill for a 20-yard touchdown. After Taft went three-and-out, Johnson took the Pirates back down the field with completions of 28 and 19 before adding a 12-yard score to running back Dylan Turner.
Berry strung together some completions for the Wildcats but then made a risky throw deep down the middle that was intercepted by Shawn Shaffer.
The next drive featured what would have been, under normal circumstances, the night’s most unlikely play. Johnson had a pass tipped up and caught, only for the receiver to fumble, only for the recovering Taft defender to promptly fumble back into the arms of Johnson. It was nullified by a Wildcat penalty, and Turner scored from close range a few plays later to make it 21-0 to open the second quarter.
Taft narrowed the gap to 21-6 on the following drive when Berry hit Bradley Reaves for 33 yards to set up Cyris Gaylord for a score. The extra point was no good, which by all rights should not have ended up mattering.
Right as the Wildcat defense seemed to figure Johnson out, it started committing personal fouls. One came on a thirdand-10 incompletion. The next came on a nine-yard completion on first down. That brought the Pirates to the red zone, where Johnson got another score to Noah Howard.
Taft opened up the playbook, with mixed results. What looked like a reverse led to a fumbled handoff that killed the Wildcats’ next drive. Later, Taft ran a hookand-ladder for its final play of the half, and Gaylord brought the Wildcats inside the 20, but time ran out.
Again, Taft seemed poised to score after the half, following a long pass to Richard Jennings, but turned the ball over on downs just outside the red zone, and Morro Bay used more medium-length passes to carve up the Wildcat defense and boost its lead.
When Taft gave it back to the Pirates on a punt of just 21 yards at the end of the third quarter, already trailing 35-6, that should have been it.
And yet Morro Bay went backwards on consecutive plays and got nothing on fourth-and-18. Taft needed just five plays, featuring a 34-yard run by Berry and a pass interference call, to make it 35-13.
The Wildcats would need something resembling an onside kick, but it didn’t work — no matter, though, as Morro Bay went four-and-out to give Taft the ball back at midfield with 5:37 left. The Wildcats opened with five straight runs and overcame a huge sack by Phoenix Popp to tack on another touchdown, this one from Jason Woodards.
Another onside kick, another failure, and this one gave the Pirates the ball at Taft’s 39. Yet they got called for a false start and an offensive facemask, all while losing fifteen yards on three plays. Only an unsportsmanlike conduct on Taft spared them a fourth-and-45 — and they had to punt anyway on fourth-and-30.
Still, it was a 16-point game with 1:19 remaining, and Morro Bay had previously allowed 19 points through 48 minutes. But this time Berry aired it out, finding Gaylord for 24, Reaves for 13 and Jennings for 21 yards before taking it in himself with 13 seconds left, and earning the two-point conversion to make it 35-27.
And the Wildcats finally got the onside kick they needed — sort of. The ball was headed straight out of bounds, and the Morro Bay hands team laid off it as a result, but somehow Jennings streaked past one Pirate to snatch possession away.
So it was Hail Mary time, except Berry decided to scramble from 35 yards out, weaving his way to the right sideline before cutting back to the middle of the field and beating the pursuing Pirates to the goal line. 35-33, no time left.
It seemed clear Berry was getting the ball again, and it was clear to the Pirates, as, just once in the fourth quarter, they stopped him short. That play was all they needed to claim their championship.