San Rafael shakes off slow start and beats Novato

San Rafael High quarterback Lachlan Royston figured his team needed a fast start Friday night to shake off any lingering doubts a week after a 22-point loss to Redwood Empire Mountain league leader Piner .

Unfortunately for Royston and the Bulldogs, they fell short in the battle for county bragging rights against visiting Novato.

In fact, Royston threw an interception on the second play from scrimmage.

But Royston finished strong with a long, game-winning touchdown pass early in the fourth quarter as the Bulldogs (5-3, 3-2 Mountain) held off the Hornets 23-14.

“We knew we were in for a fight against Novato,” Royston said. “Even after last week we had to go out full of confidence. We made a few mistakes and I had a chance to put the game away at first, but we fought through the adversity. After that we came through again and achieved victory together.”

However, the victory still hung in the balance as the Bulldogs fought from behind to take a 16-14 lead midway through the third quarter.

Royston’s second interception on San Rafael’s next possession gave Novato (5-3, 3-2) a chance to take the lead.

But the Hornets never came close.

The Bulldogs snagged their fourth of five interceptions in the game – this one from Floyd Greene – and the Bulldogs sat comfortably at the Novato 47-yard line.

Eight plays later, Royston threw a long ball down the left sideline and Dante Canziani – six catches, 85 yards – ran under it in the end zone for a 27-yard touchdown.

“I have a lot of confidence in Dante,” Royston said. “I saw the safety move off the field and that left Dante with one-on-one coverage. I just wanted to give him a chance to play a role.”

San Rafael’s defense did the rest, fending off the Hornets’ final three possessions, including a goal-to-go situation in the final minute of the game.

“As coaches, we pay attention to our players’ body language,” San Rafael coach Casey Sully said. “Even if we made a mistake on defense, we wanted to be there to lift each other up. And that’s what we did tonight. We had five interceptions from five different players.”

San Rafael’s defense was particularly strong against Novato’s rushing attack, which has been a strength of the Hornets all season. The Bulldogs limited Novato ball carriers to 53 yards on 22 carries and blocked leading rusher John DeMartini, holding him to five yards on 10 attempts.

“Our defense did a really good job against their running game,” Sully said. “We knew if we could stop Novato’s rushing attack and force them to pass, we would have a really good chance to win this game.”

Sully said he was pleased his team reached the five-win plateau, qualifying the Bulldogs for a spot in the postseason playoffs.

Although Novato quarterback Trevor Cleary was bitten by the interception bug, he still managed to put up big numbers, completing 19 of 35 passes for 288 yards.

Cleary used his strong arm to give the Hornets an early 7-0 lead. On his team’s second possession, Cleary clicked on four of four passes and ended the drive with a nine-yard touchdown pass to Salvatore Carrow.

But after completing his first seven passes, Cleary was 12 of 28 the rest of the way.

Novato’s lightning-quick Christian Castro led all receivers with 7 catches for 96 yards.

San Rafael 23, Novato 14

Redwood Empire Mountain

Novato 7 0 7 0 – 14

San Rafael 7 3 6 8 – 23

REVIEW SUMMARY

N – Carrow 9 pass from Cleary (Cordero Garcia kick)

SR – Johnson 1 run (Pilla kick)

SR – Pilla 21 FG

N – Felchlin 42 pass from Cleary (Cordero Garcia kick)

SR – Munoz 3 run (kick failed)

SR – Canziani 27 pass from Royston (Pilla kick)

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – Novato, Cleary 5-19, DeMartini 10-5, Castro 1-3, T. Smith 2-11, Felchlin 4-15. Total: 22-53. SR, Johnson 11-50, Royston 6-(minus-15), Munoz 15-52, McLaughlin 2-(minus-4), Bad Snap 1-(minus-14), Chick 2-13. Totals: 37-82.

MATCHING – Novato, Cleary 19-35-5 288. SR, Royston 10-24-1 153.

RECEIVE – Novato, Carrow 3-46, Castro 7-96, T. Smith 4-20, Felchlin 2-50, DeMartini 1-6, J. Smith 2-70. Total: 19-288. SR, Canziani 6-85, Berlinsky 3-59, Earnest 1-9. Total: 10-153.

Records – Novato 5-3, 3-2. San Rafael 5-3, 3-2.