Cedar Creek comeback in season finale against St. Augustine comes up short

By DAVE O’SULLIVAN Publisher EGG HARBOR CITY – Heading into Saturday’s season finale, the Cedar Creek High School football players wanted to prove they belonged in the conversation among the best teams in not only the Cape-Atlantic League, but South Jersey as well. Visiting St. Augustine Prep players wanted the same thing. The teams came in with a combined 14-4 record, so it was no surprise the outcome was in doubt until the final drive. But in the end it was the Hermits’ defense, and not its vaunted offense, that came up big and helped St. Augustine (8-2) hang on for a 21-13 win and exact a measure of revenge against the Pirates (7-3). Cedar Creek thumped St. Augustine 33-0 in last season’s Thanksgiving week matchup. The Hermits, who lost to Don Bosco last weekend in the first round of the state playoffs, struck first just before halftime, as junior quarterback Jose Taboro found a wide-open Xavier File in the left corner of the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown pass to put St. Augustine up 7-0 with just 12.8 seconds left in the second quarter. The Hermits were forced to play much of the game without the CAL’s leading rusher, as Lamont Harris went down with an injury with 3:40 left in the first half. Freshman Kyle Dobbins picked up the slack, however, grinding out 105 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries. St. Augustine Prep quarterback Jose Tabora breaks free from the tackle of a leaping Michaelangelo Williams of Cedar Creek during the Hermits’ 21-13 win over the Pirates on Saturday afternoon in Egg Harbor City. (Glory Days Magazine photos/Dave O’Sullivan) “Obviously, Lamont is a big part of our offense and the way we do things, he’s one of the captains on offense,” Tabora said of Harris, who came into the game with nearly 1,800 yards. “So him going down hurts a little bit, but we knew we had to pick it up. That’s not our whole offense and we know that. We feel bad, but we got the win for him.” Cedar Creek answered right back, as junior wideout Ahmir Mitchell, one of the most highly recruited players in the nation, took the opening kickoff of the second half back 75 yards to tie the game at 7. Two plays later, St. Augustine countered when Dobbins ran right, found a crease and hit the sideline for a 56-yard touchdown run. Turnovers plagued the Pirates throughout the game, as the Hermits’ defense picked off three passes and stopped two drives inside the 20-yard line, one with a sack on fourth down and another by forcing a fumble. “Just watching film on them, that’s what stood out was the speed of their defense. Obviously, they are well coached and we knew they were going to be tough defensively. They’ve been tough against pretty much everybody defensively. We heard the stats about them holding Don Bosco to zero first downs in the first half, so we knew they were tough, they fly around,” said Cedar Creek head coach Tim Watson. “If you take away the one play off the edge where we kind of had a bust, I think we did a pretty good job of shutting down the run. And I think we were doing a pretty good job of shutting it down when (Harris) was in there, too. We felt like we matched up pretty well with what they wanted to do. But give them credit, they made plays when they had to make plays and we just came up a little short.” Harris had just 17 yards on six carries before being injured, but Tabora did enough in the passing game and Dobbins’ steady running allowed St. Augustine to limit the number of possessions Cedar Creek was able to get in the second half. Midway through the third quarter, Tabora capped off a scoring drive with a well-designed play call from the 5-yard line. He rolled left, drawing the defense, then spun and threw back to his right, connecting with tight end Daniel Pavlik to put the Hermits up 21-7. Cedar Creek answered later in the third quarter when Mitchell took a short pass from Jesse Milza and broke several tackles to break free for a 43-yard touchdown, which cut the lead to 21-13. Cedar Creek receiver Ahmir Mitchell sheds a Hermits defender on his way to one of his two touchdowns on Saturday. Cedar Creek had two possessions inside St. Augustine territory late in the fourth quarter, but the Hermits’ defense held, forcing a punt and then a turnover on downs to seal the win. Mitchell finished with eight catches for 125 yards while Milza put up 191 yards passing for Cedar Creek. Tabora, an Egg Harbor Township resident, said he has enjoyed seeing this rivalry develop during his high school career. “It’s definitely becoming a rivalry. We’re 2-1 against them and every year it’s fun coming out here and playing them. Next year it’s at our house,” Tabora said. “I thought we played good against (Don) Bosco, but there’s nothing you can do about it. But ending on a ‘W’, unlike last year, it feels good.” Cedar Creek senior Nate Pauls said that despite the loss, the senior-laden team can feel good about what they accomplished during their four-year careers. “It’s been the best four years of our lives, the seniors. It’s been great. I wouldn’t want to go to school anywhere else. The relationships we have as players and coaches, it’s great,” Pauls said. “We played our butts off, they played their butts off, nobody gave up so it was a good game. We definitely felt like we had a chance to come back there at the end.[adrotate banner=”7”] Cedar Creek missed out on a playoff berth despite having a 6-2 record at the cutoff date, but they won their consolation game and Pauls said they came into Saturday’s game treating it like a playoff game. “When we first found out (we missed the playoffs) everyone was upset, but we just had to take that and get stronger from it. Last week, our consolation game, we took that as a playoff and we were picturing this as a championship game just to get our minds right and get pumped up for it,” Pauls said. “We were the first four-year varsity team and we’ve just been playing as brothers. It was just great playing together with all these guys.” “They battled. We’ve had some tough losses this year. We feel like we could have done some things to help ourselves out a little bit against a good football team. But they fought until the very end,” Watson said. “I think it was a successful season. You don’t like to lose any. … but I’m proud of the kids. They battled. The way they bounced back from that little stretch that we had when we struggled, I think that says a lot about who we are.” Contact Dave O’Sullivan: sully@acglorydays.com; on Twitter @GDsullysays [adsense]