Sultans sack Cougars; will host semifinal

By Ramon Scott
Updated: November 17, 2019

2019 EAST COUNTY PREP FOOTBALL

SAN DIEGO CIF DIVISION IV QUARTERFINAL

SANTANA 40, ESCONDIDO 28

By Dave Dickens

EastCountySports.com

SANTEE – The Santana Sultans will host the San Diego CIF Division IV semifinals next Friday night – at El Capitan High School – following their 40-28 sacking of visiting Escondido in a quarterfinal matchup at Santee Community Stadium on Friday night.

Santana senior Nathan Temple was 13-of-20 for 185 yards and two touchdowns to move the top-seeded Sultans into a date in Lakeside with Orange Glen (7-4), which defeated Patrick Henry, 52-28, also on Friday.

The home game is being shifted to the Vaqueros’ stadium as improvements begin at a bad time at Santana’s field.

Still, the fourth-seeded Patriots will travel more than 30 miles farther and nearly a half-hour longer to reach the game site next week.

Santana’s Brooks Moutaw had a 24-yard touchdown run just a couple of minutes into the game for a 7-0 lead against the eighth-seeded Cougars.

It took eight plays, as the Sultans took some time, however Moutaw, on back-to-back carries, amassed approximately 50 yards on two plays before busting through the Cougar defense and into the end zone for six. Kicker Nathan Hughes added the point after.

But the Cougars responded on a 70-yard pass just a moment later to trail 7-6 after Dawud Saddler blocked the extra point. Escondido wide receiver Matt Malone scored the touchdown with nine minutes left to play in the 1st quarter.

Temple completed a short pass over the middle for an 11-yard score to Ethan Wright, making the lead 13-7 in favor of Santana with eight minutes remaining in the first quarter the Sultans drove down the field yet again in only five plays. The point after was successful by Hughes.

The Cougars tied the game at 14-all with a touchdown and two-point conversion, as Escondido scored on the last play of the first quarter, punching it through the wall of purple.

Jayce Lynch had a sack and recovered a fumble in the second quarter for Santana, which Moutaw converted into a touchdown with a 25-yard jaunt to make it 21-14 in favor of Santana eight minutes to play in the first half.

Although it seemed the tempo for the Sultans just wasn’t completely in sync, in particular on offense, there were a few too many dropped balls, and it was just not the domination some expected.

Temple had a touchdown pass to Randy Smith, who caught the ball near the right pylon while dropping to his knees midway through the third quarter to make it 27-14.

Then, Hughes had his 48-yard pick-six to extend the lead to 33-14.

Saddler had a 3-yard score to put Santana ahead by a 40-14 margin with five minutes left in the game. Hughes added the point
after, to make it 40-14 Sultans with four minutes to go.

Escondido added another touchdown with under a minute to go in the game on a 9-yard passing play.

After recovering an onside kick, the Cougars completed a 47-yard pass for the final touchdown of the game.

Red-hot sack master Michael Richter had two sacks and a tackle-for-loss for Santana and Moutaw recorded a sack and a tackle-for-loss.

Richter has 14 1/2 sacks this season.

Santana’s Jared Forster had seven receptions for 117 yards in the contest.

Santana appears ready to face Orange Glen with the way that they played in the second half.

EastCountySports.com