HAYWARD — The road to the championship game wasn’t entirely smooth for Bishop O’Dowd. The Dragons lost three in a row in September. They stumbled in a crucial late-season league game against James Logan, an outcome that led to a second-place finish. They fell to a three seed in their playoff bracket.
But all of that is forgotten now.
Late Saturday afternoon, an O’Dowd team filled with young stars celebrated. They dumped a Gatorade bucket on coach Hardy Nickerson. They hoisted the winner’s trophy toward the heavens. They waved their Dragon flag back and forth amid all the smiles.
O’Dowd won its first North Coast Section championship in seven years, routing fourth-seeded Fortuna 59-21 in the Division VI final at Moreau Catholic High. The fourth quarter was played with a running clock.
“I’m feeling great,” junior running back Lamar Ellis said. “We got the win as a team. We came a long way. We were doubted at the start. Started off 1-3, and now look at us.”
Ellis certainly did his part to ignite the Dragons, rushing for 186 yards and five touchdowns in 16 carries. He had 100 yards and three TDs in the first quarter as O’Dowd built a 21-7 cushion.
But Fortuna, a proud program playing 275 miles from home, made O’Dowd work for the victory. The Huskies cut the deficit to 31-21 when Michael Shaw returned the kickoff to start the second half 93 yards for a touchdown.
O’Dowd didn’t flinch.
On the first play of its next series, Ellis got the handoff and let his talent take over. He weaved through the defense from one side of the field to the other, the 59-yard run moving the Dragons to the 10.
Two snaps later, Ellis darted across the goal line for a touchdown that made it 38-21 just 59 seconds into the third quarter.
“Unbelievable,” Nickerson said about Ellis. “And he’s done it every week. Just a fantastic player. He was ready. Our O-line did a great job of getting hat on a hat and getting him opportunities to find the openings. He’s just unbelievable. He’s as good as I’ve seen, a guy who finds the right hole, has the acceleration, has the power to run through tackles. He just does it all.”
If the game wasn’t out of reach after Ellis extended the margin to 17, it certainly was when O’Dowd (9-4) made a fourth-down stop and then needed two plays to travel 48 yards for another touchdown.
Christian Cermenelli-Johnson dashed 24 yards on a quarterback keeper, then threw a short pass to Bryan Edwards in the left flat. The sophomore athlete let his speed take over from there, outrunning the defense for a 24-yard TD that pushed the advantage to 45-21 with just under seven minutes left in the third quarter.
A few minutes later, Edwards was at it again.
This time, with some of his coaches yelling “peter,” the universal football cry for the punt return team to get away from the ball, Edwards followed his head coach’s orders.
The kid nicknamed “cheat code” scooped up the punt and dashed 60 yards for another touchdown.
“They were yelling ‘Peter,’ I was saying, ‘Pick it up,’” Nickerson said. “I knew exactly what he could do.”
What Edwards does is bring electricity to the field.
Saturday, he caught a TD pass, ran for a score and scored on the punt return.
“All season long, he’s been that guy on the field who is moving at a different speed than everybody else,” Nickerson said. “He showed out tonight. We call him a ‘cheat code’ for a purpose. When he’s on the field, no matter what you do, he’s just a difficult guy to match up with. He had a great night tonight.”
Edwards attributed his and the team’s play to the hard work they put in during the week.
“Even though we had Thanksgiving, we still came, showed out, balled out,” Edwards said. “We know they’re going to scheme us, but we switch up our plays a little bit, give them different looks and they can’t stop us. We’re too good.”
And they’re young.
Cermenelli-Johnson, who threw for 116 yards and ran for 58, is a junior. Same with Ellis and linebacker OC Lehner, who nearly returned an interception for a touchdown in the first half.
Next stop for this young team: The CIF NorCal regionals.
Matchups will be announced Sunday.
