Rams Battle Injuries and Orcutt Academy

On a blustery Saturday the Cate Rams made the drive north to renew their rivalry with the Orcutt Academy Spartans. Backup Quarterback Sam Lambiotte made his first start in a Ram uniform and wasted no time opening the scoring completing touchdown passes of 62 and 20 yards, with Chase Meyer on the receiving end of both tosses. The Rams scored on two of the first three offensive plays from scrimmage. Orcutt would get themselves right back in the contest with a four play scoring drive of their own behind their potent rushing attack. Cate would lead 15-8 after one, however, that lead was short lived as Orcutt found the endzone again on the first play from scrimmage as Zeke Johnson ripped off a 61 yard run. The Spartans would strike again just 4 minutes later putting the Rams in 22-15 hole before senior running back Barron Crayton would deliver a marvelous run up the middle for a 15 yard touchdown knotting the teams at 22 heading into halftime.

Coming out of the break, Zeke Johnson delivered again for Orcutt Academy, blasting out of the gate with a 65 yard touchdown on the first play of the half. This would open the flood gates and see the Spartans put 20 unanswered points on the board in the third quarter, putting the Rams in a 42-22 hole.

In the fourth quarter the two teams traded blows like a heavyweight fight. Barron Crayton added a 21 yard touchdown run to end the scoring drought for the Rams. Crayton followed this up with a crucial 4th down tackle, leading to Noah Casbarro touchdown catch from Lambiotte on the ensuing drive, pulling the Rams into a one score deficit 42-34. On the very next play from scrimmage, senior Graham Klinger would force a fumble giving the Rams possession on the Spartan 27. On the first play of the drive, the Rams thought they found paydirt with a Nolan Montoya touchdown catch only to have the score wiped out by a penalty. The drive would stall and the Spartans would capitalize and add another score putting the Rams down by 14 once again. As the wild fourth quarter continued, the two teams traded touchdowns in the last four minutes with Lambiotte once again finding Chase Meyer in the back of the endzone, before Orcutt marched down the field again. Lambiotte closed out the scoring with a five yard touchdown run of his own with a minute to go, cutting the Spartan lead to 54-48. Cate failed to convert the ensuing onside kick and would up on the wrong side of the scoreboard. Sam Lambiotte would finish with 333 all-purpose yards and 5 touchdowns on the day (4 passing, 1 rushing)

After the game Head Coach Ben Soto praised the team’s resolve. “We have had to overcome a ton of injuries, and people will say we are too young, but today we kept on fighting to stay in the game and battle back time and time again. I am proud of the fight we showed to take this game right down to the final whistle. Sam was fantastic in his first start, and I am hopeful we can build on the positives we had today.

The Rams return to action on Saturday October 4th when they host Faith Baptist in a non-league contest.