HAYWARD — The Middletown Mustangs scored midway through the fourth quarter to take a 27-21 lead against Moreau Catholic of Hayward, but the Mariners rallied with 20 points down the stretch to in 41-27 in a non-league varsity football game that was significantly closer than the final score indicated on Friday night in Hayward.
Middletown (1-2) had a chance to tie the game in the final seconds trailing 35-27. The Mustangs marched down to the Mariners 11-yard line with 20 seconds remaining when quarterback Isaac Perez threw his second costly interception of the quarter, this one returned 99 yards for a touchdown as time expired. No extra point was attempted.
“They’re a good football team and we were knocking on the door,” Middletown coach Bill Foltmer said. “The kids really really played them tough.”
Since both teams reside in Division 6 of the newly realigned North Coast Section playoffs, there’s a chance they could meet again in a couple of months. Until then, Foltmer said the Mustangs accomplished what they set out to do with a brutal non-league schedule against Napa, Concord and finally Moreau Catholic.
“The game was a hell of a lot closer than it looks. We were on the road against a good team, we came from behind in the fourth quarter to take the lead, and we had a chance to beat a good team. We just came up a little bit short there at the end.”
Moreau Catholic (2-2) held a 21-12 lead at halftime on the strength of three Elijah Salazar touchdown runs. Middletown’s first-half points came on a pair of Nico Barrio touchdown runs of 9 and 6 yards.
The Mustangs closed the gap to 21-19 late in the third quarter on a Dillon Tingle 3-yard run, then pushed ahead with 6:23 remaining in the fourth quarter on a Perez 19-yard pass to Ty Crudo, with Perez hooking up with Barrio on the two-point conversion pass.
Moreau Catholic wasted no time scoring on its next possession as Salazar punched another one in, this time from 59 yards out, to give the Marines a 28-27 advantage. The Mariners defense then picked off a Perez pass, returning it to the Middletown 7-yard line, where Salazar ran it in for his fifth TD.
Trailing 35-27 after the extra-point kick, Middletown began a long march down the field, converting on a fourth-and-2 and third-and-2 to keep the drive alive. After using a pair of timeouts deep in Morean Catholic territory, Perez was picked off again and the 99-yard pick-six sealed the Mustangs’ fate.
Tingle finished with 90 rushing yards and Barrio 69 in Middletown’s final tuneup before the start of league play next Friday at home against Lower Lake (2-1). Perez completed 10 of 17 passes for 128 yards.
Moreau Catholic also won the junior varsity game, handing the Mustangs (2-1) their first loss of the season. The score was not available.
