CCS DIII football finals: Carmel captures first section title in 15 years
SALINAS — For a group of players that were diving headfirst last week into the end zone after the game in the rain — and embracing the coveted ‘Shoe’ trophy three weeks earlier, a celebration for the ages of an even rarer achievement apparently is on hold.
No one took Friday’s first Central Coast Section football title in 15 years for granted at Carmel High. There’s just this feeling that the ride isn’t over.
“No sir, we still have more work to do,” senior receiver Simeon Brown said. “We’ll enjoy this right now. We have worked so hard for this. It’s sinking in. At the same time, we need to keep that focus and get back to work on Monday.”
The top-seeded Padres are in uncharted waters as the program is headed to the State Northern California playoffs after their 62-35 win over Aptos in the CCS Division III finals at Rabobank.
The only team remaining in the CCS that’s still undefeated at 13-0, Carmel will be seeded Sunday into the State Northern Regional playoffs based on enrollment, likely ticketed for Division 4A or 4AA, with the hope of hosting the game.
For the first time in the nearly 80-year history of the Padres football program, Carmel is 13-0, surpassing the school record of 12 wins, set on four other occasions in the last 15 years.
“This hasn’t happened in Carmel,” said tailback Ashton Rees, in speaking about the win total and earning a spot in the Northern California playoffs. “We’re going to try and take this as far as we can. This is what happens when you’re a family.”
The Padres last CCS title came 15 years ago in head coach Golden Anderson’s first season, when they went 12-0 in beating Menlo 56-35 in the Division IV title game — but were not extended an invitation to the Northern California playoffs.
“It’s pretty overwhelming,” Anderson said. “I appreciate it a lot more than I did 15 years ago. We just thought this is how it goes. You give yourself to much credit. You quickly realize how hard this is to do.”
Anderson has taken Carmel to the section title game five times, having dropped the last three. This was his first return to the finals since 2018. Last year it was knocked out in the Division II quarterfinals by eventual state champion Soquel.
“I get what it’s like to be here,” Anderson said. “If we didn’t win, you’re bummed. But I am back next year. These seniors aren’t. We take a lot of grief. A lot of people hate on us. These kids don’t care what other people think. But they care about each other.”
Having come into the postseason averaging over 45 points a game in the regular season, the Padres offense was an inferno in three playoff games, averaging just under 53 points a game.
The 62 points tied the school record for a playoff game, matching that of the total it produced in 2018 in a win over Saratoga in the quarterfinals.
“We fell short last year in the first round,” Rees said. “We came back with the same group of guys, determined. “The ‘Shoe’ was our first goal. This is special, to have this championship in the books.”
For the second straight week, the Padres defense, anchored by linebackers Jeremiah Robinson and Hiroki Cole, rose to the occasion in the second half, forcing three turnovers while holding Aptos to seven points — that coming late in the game when Anderson had already taken his head set off.
As a team, Carmel induced five turnovers in the game — with four of them resulting in touchdowns for the offense, essentially the difference in the game.
The No. 7 seeded Mariners, who missed the playoffs last year, came into the game averaging 48 points in the postseason, having knocked off No. 2 seed Willow Glen and No. 3 seed Palo Alto to return to their title game since 2018.
“We were too busy trying to stripe the ball in the first half,” Anderson said. “We weren’t tackling anyone. We weathered the storm. We came out in the second half like we’ve previously done and handled our business.”
Anderson could have been speaking about last week’s semifinal meeting with Hollister when the defense held them scoreless over the final 24 minutes in a 40-21 win. Or three weeks earlier when Carmel held Pacific Grove to one touchdown in the second half.
“We’ve been here before, especially in our last four games,” said Anderson, in reference to the defense dictating the tempo with its tenacious effort. “The defense rose up in the second half.”
Rees, who has put his name out there as arguably the best all-around player in the county, put together another 100 plus yard rushing effort with three touchdowns, while catching six passes for 82 yards and intercepting a pass on defense.
The multi-sport standout forced Aptos to respect the Padres running game, which in turn fueled a passing attack that saw Hudson Rutherford throw four more touchdowns, two to Brown and one apiece to Matt Maxon and Brooklyn Ashe.
In three postseason games, Rutherford has tossed 13 touchdown passes, while throwing for nearly 1,000 yards, engineering an offense that didn’t punt once in the game.
“I’m so proud of our quarterback,” Anderson said. “The one interception was a poor call on my part. He made the throws when he had too. When we get in the moment, it’s like an avalanche of emotion.”
Anderson was speaking about an offensive run, where Carmel outscored the Mariners 28-0 in the second half to turn a game in doubt into a route.
“It didn’t feel like it was trending that way,” Anderson said. “We got that huge fourth down conversion that resulted in a touchdown and then the defense got a stop. Those were two big moments. We’ve come a long ways since 2020.”
While Carmel has reached the postseason in 12 of Anderson’s 15 years, it missed the playoffs in 2021 and 2022, going a combined 8-10 — the only two non-winning seasons in his tenure.
Dating back to the final two games of the 2022 season, the Padres have gone 27-1, with the one setback coming last year in the playoffs to Soquel.
Rather than kick a field goal and make it a two score difference to open the second half, Anderson elected to go for it on fourth-and-seven, where Rutherford found Maxon at the 7-yard line, and the Stanford bound pitcher did the rest, finding the end zone.
As for rising to the occasion on the sections biggest stage, Ashe put together a career night for the Padres with nine catches for 148 yards, while Brown turned two of his three catches into touchdowns, while tossing a 35-yard scoring strike to Ashe.
“It’s not sinking in,” said a soak and wet Anderson, who had two buckets of ice water thrown on him. “I don’t think it is ever going to happen. I’m in fear of everything. But when I saw how calm and relaxed the guys were on the bus, it made me relax.”
