Stone Ridge Christian overpowered by East Nicolaus in CIF NorCal Regional Division VI-AA Bowl

One of Art De Jager’s concerns going into Friday night was that East Nicolaus would be more physical than his Stone Ridge Christian football team.

The Knights’ coach feared the Spartans played a better smash-mouth style of football.

De Jager’s concerns were realized.

East Nicolaus basically “out-Stone Ridged” Stone Ridge by pounding its way to a 34-14 victory in the NorCal Regional Division VI-AA Bowl Game at Wahl Field.

“They played more physical football than we did,” said De Jager, whose team had its 11-game winning streak snapped. “They just brought it to us. They were ready to take us on and play our brand of football.”

Both teams earned their way to the NorCal bowl with old-school, run-first approaches.

“It was a very physical game,” said East Nicolaus running back Donovan Switalski, who rushed for 106 yards and a touchdown on 21 carries to add to the Northern Section season rushing record of 2,705 yards he had going into the game. “It was really fun. I love playing games like this, man on man. Who is going to push harder? The team with the most heart wins.”

The Spartans (12-2) opened the game with a 13-play drive that covered 55 yards (all on the ground) and ended with Nolan Goyet scoring on a four-yard run to give East Nicolaus a 6-0 lead.

The Knights’ defense stopped the Spartans’ next drive just before the red zone, but East Nicolaus kept coming.

The Spartans used another 13-play drive, converting twice on fourth down, to march 58 yards early in the second quarter. East Nicolaus just kept running behind bookend tackles Andrew Berrier (6-foot-1, 255 pounds) and Travis Tucker (6-4, 275).

“We got lucky, really lucky with this batch of linemen,” said Switalski, who capped the drive with a one-yard touchdown plunge to extend the Spartans’ lead to 12-0. “I wouldn’t be the running back I am without them.”

Meanwhile, the Stone Ridge Christian offense, which averaged 425 rushing yards and 50 points per game, was held to 27 yards and zero points in the first half.

It didn’t help that the Knights (12-2) lost starting center Travis Hooker to a possible concussion early in the game. That led to four fumbled snaps, which helped stop any momentum for Stone Ridge Christian.

“We couldn’t move the ball on them,” fullback Austin Rees said. “We tried our best. We fought our hardest, but in the end they outplayed us.”

The Knights caught a bad break near the end of the first half when defensive back Adam Hooker intercepted a pass but was tackled at his 1-yard line.

On the next play, quarterback Bryce Louters’ pitch to Rees was high and Switalski forced a fumble out of the end zone for a safety that extended the lead to 14-0 with 1:54 left.

Eddie Herrera then returned the ensuing kickoff 65 yards for a touchdown to give the Spartans a 22-0 halftime lead.

“We don’t have that quick-strike, big-play offense,” De Jager said. “We can’t come back from that far behind. We are a little bit one-dimensional. We didn’t have enough. All season we had enough, but tonight we didn’t. East Nic was just a hard-nosed football team.”

The Knights put up a good fight in the second half.

Louters hooked up with Mark Hooker for a 21-yard touchdown pass to cut the lead to 28-7 late in the third quarter. Rees broke free for a 59-yard touchdown run midway through the fourth quarter.

The Knights recovered an onside kick and a fumbled kickoff return but the clock ran down on their spectacular season.

East Nicolas advances to the Division VI-AA State Bowl Game on Dec. 19 against Coronado, a 14-0 winner over Belmont of Los Angeles.

“This was the ride of our lives,” Rees said. “This was the best experience we have had. We gave it our all. A lot of us are moving on. I don’t know if Stone Ridge will be this good again. This team was special.”

This story was originally published December 12, 2015 at 8:51 AM with the headline "Stone Ridge Christian overpowered by East Nicolaus in CIF NorCal Regional Division VI-AA Bowl."