California: Rams Win In OT, Await State Bowl Bid

By Kevin Askeland
MaxPreps.com

When Jaycob Shoemaker intercepted Demetrius Williams’ pass in the end zone in overtime, the Casa Roble Rams capped the greatest season in school history with a 27-21 victory over the Inderkum Tigers for the Sac-Joaquin Section Division 3 championship.

The win gives the Rams a 13-0 record and their first section title in the school’s 40-year history. Casa Roble now waits one week to see if a group of 10 CIF commissioners feel the Rams are worthy of representing Northern California in the state championship bowl games.

“We can’t do anything about that,” Casa Roble coach Norm Ryan said. “We did everything we could to win a championship here today. The rest is out of our hands.”

Ryan is 61-15 in his seven years at the helm of the Rams football team. He stepped down as the school’s highly successful basketball coach in 2001 to take over a football program that had posted three consecutive 1-9 seasons. The Rams were 10-1 in his first year and have won four league titles in seven years with four 10-win seasons.

However the Rams were regularly eliminated from the playoffs in the first round during that run including last year when Casa Roble went 10-0 only to lose in the first round to Rodriguez, 29-7. This year, however, was a different story.

“It’s that old cliché, just take it one game at a time,” Ryan said. “But that’s what we did starting right after that Rodriguez game.”

Operating out of a spread formation, the Rams actually run the ball the majority of the time with mercurial Matt Satchwell carrying the bulk of the workload. Although not big at just 5-foot-9, Satchwell utilizes quick bursts of speed along with uncanny elusiveness that includes quick spins, much like a flag football player trying to avoid having his flag taken by a defender.

Satchwell’s talents were on display against Inderkum (11-2) as he followed up last week’s 246-yard effort against Rodriguez with a 31-carry, 244-yard performance against the Tigers. Satchwell has 2,178 yards on the season with 30 touchdowns.

Although Satchwell scored just one touchdown, he set up Casa Roble’s other two scores that helped give the Rams a 21-14 lead after falling behind 14-0 early to Inderkum.

The Tigers, however, rallied late in the third period to tie the game at 21-21. Williams threw a 13-yard touchdown pass to Vincent Mayle with 28.8 seconds left in the quarter and Spencer Bennett kicked the extra point to knot the game.

Both teams appeared on the verge of taking the lead in the fourth quarter, only to be thwarted by turnovers. Anthony Williams intercepted a Sam Martinez pass early in the fourth quarter to end a Casa Roble threat at the Inderkum 15. The Rams returned the favor when Scott Patalano intercepted Williams at the Casa Roble 27.

Patalano’s pick set up what looked to be the game-winning drive for the Rams. Satchwell and Martinez moved the Rams downfield, eating up nearly five minutes on the clock until Casa Roble faced a third down and two from the Inderkum 6 with just 45 seconds remaining.

However when Martinez faked to Satchwell and pulled out the ball to keep it for a quarterback sneak, the ball came loose and DaWayne Lewis was able to recover at the 7 to send the game into overtime.

Casa Roble went first in the extra period and a Satchwell run gained 3 yards. After a 10-yard holding penalty on the next play, Martinez dropped back to pass on second down. Looking to his left, Martinez drilled a bullet to Tristan Baer who was running a slant pattern. Baer fought off an Inderkum defender and caught the ball in stride at the 8-yard line. The defender slipped as Baer caught the ball and the Ram senior easily ran into the end zone for the score.

Inderkum was able to thwart the extra point, however, when a bad snap resulted in an interception by Ladon Hudson in the end zone.

Inderkum then set up for its series of four plays at the 10 yard line. Devin Hartley gained six yards on first down, but an illegal participation penalty on the next play marched Inderkum back to the 9. Williams threw incomplete on the next play and then scrambled away from pressure on third down before spotting an open receiver in the end zone.

Williams drilled the pass in the direction of Hartley, but Shoemaker stepped in front of the ball, picking it off at the goal line and setting off a celebration by the Ram faithful.

Inderkum grabbed the early lead and it looked like Casa Roble’s perfect season was in jeopardy. The Tigers scored on their first possession when Lewis scored on a 1-yard run just three minutes into the game.

Casa Roble went three plays and a punt and Inderkum was in the end zone four plays later. This time Williams weaved his way for an 85-yard run to set up an 11-yard jaunt by Rashad Adams on a double-handoff.

The Rams then failed to make a first down after going for it on fourth down near midfield. A fumble recovery by Casa Roble lineman Vinnie Odo, however, turned the momentum in the Rams’ favor.

Casa Roble scored in five plays with Satchwell scoring from the 6-yard line. The Rams then forced a punt and needed just seven plays to go 61 yards for the tying score.

This time Satchwell had gains of 16, 22 and 21 yards, but Shoemaker scored on a 3-yard run from his fullback spot.

Casa Roble took the lead on its first possession of the second half when Satchwell gained 18 yards down to the Inderkum 6. From there, Martinez ran around left end for the touchdown and a 21-14 advantage.

Inderkum responded with a 58-yard drive that tied the game on Williams’ TD pass to Mayle. Williams led the Inderkum offense with nine carries for 115 yards. He also completed 5 of 10 passes for 74 yards and a touchdown.

Casa Roble is in contention for the Northern California Division 2 bowl berth along with several other schools, including Paradise (11-1) of the Northern Section, Sacred Heart Cathedral (8-5) of the Central Coast Section, Castlemont (9-2-1) of the Oakland Section, and Marysville (10-2) of the Sac-Joaquin Section. St. Mary’s (11-2), Novato (11-2), Whitney (12-0), Encinal (12-0) and Placer (8-4) are all in their respective section championship games, but have yet to qualify for a bowl berth.