Pittsburg staggers down stretch but prevails
SAN MATEO >> Pittsburg has already battled through seemingly a season’s worth of adversity in just the first few weeks.
Its starting quarterback, Trey Turner, suffered a season-ending knee injury in a scrimmage the week before the first game. It went on to lose that opening game, soundly, against one of the high school game’s powerhouse programs, and then was among the few teams last week to have a game canceled because of the heat.
This past week, the Pirates lost standout defensive lineman Jacob Bandes, who suffered a concussion colliding with a teammate in a family swimming pool accident.
Under this backdrop, Pittsburg traveled to San Mateo on Saturday afternoon to face another elite program, fourth-ranked Serra, and built a double-digit lead behind new quarterback Justin Boyd and running back Premier Murphy.
But following the theme of this season, the fifth-ranked Pirates encountered some adversity before returning home with a 3528 victory.
Serra almost came all the way back, reaching the 10-yard line in the final two minutes before Jalen Mitchell sealed Pittsburg’s first win of the season with an interception.
“I’ve been here before,” Pittsburg coach Victor Galli said. “I told the kids at halftime, ‘Hey, guys, I know this coach. I know what kind of a competitor he is, and I know what kind of program he runs. They’re going to come back and fight.’ Quite honestly, I am proud of the guys for stepping up.”
Serra coach Patrick Walsh and Galli played at De La Salle under legendary coach Bob Ladouceur.
Serra struck first when Patrick Nunn pulled down an 11yard pass from Luke Bottari in the corner of the end zone for a 6-0 lead.
Pittsburg quickly answered. Murphy ran for 28 yards, then Boyd scampered for 21 to the 1. On the next play, Murphy crossed the goal line to give Pittsburg a 7-6 lead.
Boyd’s 12-yard pass to Elijah Roberts extended the advantage to 14-6, and Boyd’s 1-yard run late in the second quarter gave Pittsburg a 21-6 cushion at halftime.
The second half tightened as Isiah Kendrick’s 50-yard run helped set up Bottari’s 8-yard touchdown run, cutting the deficit to 21-13.
Pittsburg went back up again by two scores on Murphy’s 22yard run, which followed runs of 41 and 14 yards by Boyd that put Pittsburg in scoring position.
The teams traded three more touchdowns to set the stage for the dramatic finish.
Serra moved from its 43 to the Pittsburg 10, but the opportunity ended when Mitchell pulled down an interception on third down with 1:08 to play.