San Diego U-T Preps

Could it be 2010 all over for the Cathedral Catholic Dons?

Overcoming a slow start to the season and a slow start to the game, the Dons scored 28 unanswered second-half points to down host Olympian 28-3 in a nonleague battle with Division I playoff implications Friday night.

In 2010, Cathedral started the year 1-4 only to come back and finish 8-5 and run the table in the playoffs to win the Division III crown. Coming into Friday night’s game, the Dons were 1-3, with losses to state quality teams Loomis Del Oro, Orange Lutheran and Helix.

“I tell them about that year all the time,” said Dons coach Sean Doyle. “We’ve been in this position before. There’s nothing to worry about.”

The first half was a defensive battle. Olympian put the only points on the board in the half when junior Erik Duarte drilled a 36-yard field goal with 22.5 seconds left.

Both team’s running games, hampered by injuries, were ineffective in the first half. The Dons held Olympian (3-3) to a minus-21 yards rushing before the break. Cathedral could muster just 12 yards on the ground in the half.

Everything changed right out of the box in the second half for the Dons (2-3). A 50-yard pass from Kai Brown to Zion Sorani set up a 14-yard TD run by Ryan Kilpatrick to give Cathedral a 7-3 lead five minutes into the second half.

Kilpatrick added an 18-yard run to up the lead to 14-3. A 1-yard TD by Josh Lewis and a return of a blocked punt by Payton Rezanka closed the scoring.

Farmer is a freelance writer.

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