SAN DIEGO HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL : Point Loma Wraps Up City Eastern Title With 14-13 Win : After Trailing 13-0, Pointers Rally to Save Unbeaten Season

After Point Loma High School defeated Morse, 14-13, to win the City Eastern League championship Friday at Morse, someone asked quarterback Mike Bennett about his favorite target, tight end Bob Brasher.

Bennett looked over at Brasher, who was a few yards away smiling and hugging family members, and laughed.

“Mr. Brasher. Oh, what can I say?” Bennett said. “We’ve been buddies for a long time. I remember going out on Saturday afternoons with him when we were little, and we’d play catch with Nerf balls.”

Nowadays, they go out on Friday afternoons and play catch with real footballs, Bennett throwing and Brasher catching.

Against Morse, Bennett threw to his buddy 4 times for 157 yards and a touchdown as the Fighting Pointers rallied from a 13-0 first-quarter deficit and wrapped up their first undefeated regular season (10-0) since 1982.

“It’s been quite a ballclub this year,” Point Loma Coach Bennie Edens said. “Every week, it seems, we’ve found a new way to win.”

For awhile, Friday, it looked as if Point Loma had run out of ways to win. Morse (7-3 overall, 4-1 in league play) was overpowering in the first quarter in front of a big homecoming crowd, rolling to a pair of touchdowns and an early lead.

Point Loma linebackers Anthony Shelton and Israel Stanley had written “Maxey, Who?” on their helmets before the game, but they quickly found out about Larry Maxey, Morse’s leading rusher and the county’s top scorer.

Maxey returned the opening kickoff 45 yards to set up Morse’s first scoring drive, which ended when tackle Rex Calvin fell on Darrell Greene’s fumble in the end zone. The extra-point attempt by Paul Curtis, however, was blocked by Point Loma’s Ron Lawson. That turned out to be the difference.

Maxey ran in from the two to culminate an easy 80-yard drive that gave the Tigers a 13-0 lead with 23 seconds to go in the first quarter.

“At that time, I thought we better do something soon, or we were going to walk out of here embarrassed,” Edens said.

That’s when Bennett and Brasher took over. Three plays after Maxey’s score, Brasher ran straight down the field from his tight position, and nobody covered him. Bennett looked up and saw his 6-foot 6-inch receiver open. He hit him in stride for a 60-yard score that got Point Loma back into the game, trailing by 13-7 at halftime.

“I had worried all week about Brasher,” Morse Coach John Shacklett said. “We knew he would be tough on us. But, on that touchdown, we just blew an assignment. It was man-to-man coverage, and one of our guys switched. That left Brasher free.”

Three plays into the second half and Shacklett hads more reason to be worried.

On second and 10 from his own 30, Bennett rolled right and looked to the sideline for Kelby Downey, his intended receiver, but he couldn’t find him.

“So, I looked for Brasher,” Bennett said, “and, when I saw him, he was waving his arms.”

And, he happened to be 51 yards downfield. Bennett threw and Brasher outleaped retreating Morse cornerback Reggie Ellis to make the catch at the Morse 20.

On the next play, Downey broke free on a counter play to the left and scored the tying touchdown. T. J. Linardi’s extra point made it, 14-13.

From there, the Point Loma defense, which had been pushed all over the field in the first quarter, stopped the county’s top-ranked offense. Morse’s numbers for the second half were: 3 first downs, minus 27 yards rushing (including 4 sacks for 30 minus yards) and 46 yards passing. Maxey was limited to minus 4 yards rushing, finishing with only 46 yards in 11 carries.

Morse did get close enough for a 47-yard field goal attempt with 4:10 remaining, but Curtis pulled the ball wide to the left.

Point Loma, meanwhile, did not pass once in the fourth quarter and did not pick up a first down as Edens played cautiously.

Bennett and Brasher had already played enough catch for the day.