Cate Drops a Tough One to Thacher, 49-32

Saturday 10/11

Cate (2-4)     0 8 0 24 32
Thacher (4-1) 2 8 16 23 49

The #12 ranked Cate Rams and # 6 Thacher Toads renewed their rivalry for the 21st time on Saturday. With the all-time series tied at 10 wins each, the Rams headed to Ojai as both teams closed out their non-league schedule. From the opening whistle it was clear this was going to be a back-and forth affair. The Toads got on the board first as a miscue on a punt snap sent the ball into the Ram endzone for safety on the opening drive, puting the Toads up 2-0. The Rams would hold firm on defense lead by senior Noah Casbarro who led the team in tackles with 18 on the day, keeping Thacher out of the end zone for the remainder of the opening quarter. Junior Shogo Hayashi came up huge with an interception to start the second quarter and give the Rams some momentum. Sophomore quarterback Sam Lambiotte completed a deep pass to Chase Meyer to move the chains and set-up a 47 yard touchdown pass to Casbarro just two plays later, giving the Rams an 8-2 lead. The teams would trade blows until Thacher found the endzone with less than 90 seconds left, giving the Toads a 10-8 halftime lead.

The second half would take the lid off the endzone with the teams exploding for a combined 63 points. Thacher would strike for two touchdowns in the third quarter before the Rams rallied back. Cate opened the fourth quarter with another 65 yard touchdown pass from Lambiotte to Casbarro, before senior wide receiver Chase Meyer connected with Casbarro for a 55 yard TD on a trick play, cutting the Thacher lead to 41-24. Cate would add another score on a 12 yard touchdown run from senior running back Barron Crayton. Senior Oliver Charvel would catch his second 2 point conversion pass to finish off the scoring for the Rams leaving the score at 49-32. Charvel also added 8 tackles on the day for the Rams.

It was another good test for the Rams, who were facing their third opponent ranked in the top 10 in California. The sledding doesn’t get any easier for the Rams when they play host to #5 Chadwick on Saturday 10/18, 2pm. Head Coach Ben Soto offered the following observations following the win, “I see the improvement every week, we are competing hard. As a group, we need to be more consistent to make that leap to the next level. We will keep pushing to find that ability to execute to the best of our abilities on every single snap.”