By Kevin Askeland
MaxPreps.com
REDDING – With the No. 1 seed in the playoffs, a league championship and a possible berth in the state bowl games on the line, Paradise coach Rick Prinz knew what he had to do – get the ball to Tanner Moyse.
The junior running back came up big for the Bobcats, rushing for 141 yards on 22 carries and sparking a second half comeback in Paradise’s 31-19 win over the host Enterprise Hornets on Friday.
“We knew it would be a hard, tough game,” Prinz said. “But you really have to commend our running backs. They all did a great job. Tanner always runs hard and fights for those extra yards.”
The victory gives Paradise (9-1) the Eastern Athletic League championship as well as the No. 1 seed in the Northern Section Division 1 playoffs. Paradise will also likely maintain their No. 2 spot in the CalPreps CIF NorCal Bowl rankings.
Enterprise, meanwhile, finishes in second place in the league standings and 7-3 overall. The Hornets await their playoff seed from the Northern Section football committee on Saturday.
The Hornets seemed to have all of the momentum at halftime. After scoring a pair of touchdowns to take a 14-7 lead, Enterprise limited Paradise to a field goal following a long drive at the end of the second half for a 14-10 advantage at the break.
But Paradise quickly moved the ball downfield to start the second half. Quarterback Dillon Orlando found Michael McSpadden for a 55-yard gain down to the Enterprise 10. Moyse then carried twice, gaining six yards and the final four yards for the score and a 17-14 Bobcat lead.
The Hornets answered with a 49-yard drive that culminated in Kameron Lee’s 27-yard field goal that tied the game at 17-17, but that was the last time the Enterprise offense would put points on the board.
Moyse, sophomore Jordan Dobrich and senior Tyler Lui all contributed on the Bobcats’ next drive with Moyse breaking loose for a 21-yard gain, Dobrich adding 19 yards and Lui carrying the last 24 yards for the go-ahead touchdown with 2:18 left in the third quarter.
The extra point failed, but Paradise quickly forced another Enterprise punt and the Bobcat offense put together its best drive of the night.
Starting at their own 17, the Bobcats went 83 yards on 11 plays for the clinching touchdown. Moyse carried seven times during the drive for 25 yards while Orlando had a 21-yard run.
Orlando got the touchdown on one of Paradise’s few passes on the night as he found tight end Matt Talamantes over the middle for a 23-yard touchdown. Talamantes went up between two Enterprise defenders for the catch and then bulled his way past both Hornets to get into the end zone.
Enterprise made several attempts to get back into the game, but the swarming Paradise defense stopped one drive with a pair of sacks. Cody Pitts stopped another drive when he recovered a fumble at the 10 with just over a minute to go.
The Bobcats tried unsuccessfully to run out the clock, however, and were forced to take a safety with 22 seconds remaining. Following the free kick, Lui intercepted a James Williams pass to end the ballgame.
Moyse scored the first touchdown of the game for Paradise on a 10-yard run. The junior running back didn’t start the game, but came in on the Bobcats’ third series. He had a 25-yard gain on his first carry of the game to spark the march.
The Hornets were able to tie the game thanks to some fancy running by Ryan Enyeart and Williams. Enyeart returned a punt 43 yards down the Hornet sideline to the Paradise 12.
Three players later, Enterprise had third down at the 7-yard line when Williams went back to pass. A Paradise defender grabbed Williams and it looked like the junior quarterback would go down with a sack. But he eluded the Bobcat’s grasp and ran around the left end for the tying touchdown with 10:15 left in the half.
The Hornet defense shut down Paradise on its next possession and then drove 64 yards on nine plays to take the lead at halftime.
Williams hooked up with Bryan Coleman for a 22-yard gain. Coleman added four more runs to get the ball to the 5, but two straight runs by Chase Taylor failed to get the ball into the end zone. Coleman carried on fourth down and leaped over the pile from the 1 to score the touchdown.
Paradise was able to kick a 24-yard field goal by J.J. Bautista to trim the Hornets’ lead to 14-10 heading into the break.
Paradise racked up 277 yards of total offense with Orlando completing 5 of 9 passes for 99 yards and a score. Enterprise was close behind, gaining 266 yards of offense. Williams was 10 of 16 for 133 yards while Coleman ran 21 times for 58 yards.
