PITTSBURG – The Pittsburg High football team had a third quarter to remember Friday in their 45-35 victory over visiting Serra.
The Pirates outscored the Padres 24-0 in the third quarter to break a 21-all halftime tie and give the Pirates (2-2) a much-needed victory.
“We haven’t had a big third quarter in a long time,” Pittsburg coach Victor Galli said. “They were fired up. They had the momentum going into halftime. Tried to light a fire underneath these guys at halftime, and they responded.
“It was good to see. It’s a good foundation for the rest of the way here.”
Serra (1-2) scored 14 straight points in the second quarter to tie the game after a hot first quarter by Pittsburg, which led 21-7 in that period. But the Pirates scored on all three of their second-half possessions and added another touchdown when Josiah Porter grabbed the ball from a Serra ballcarrier and rambled 26 yards for a touchdown on the final play of the third quarter.
“We’re an inexperienced team, a lot of youth,” Serra coach Patrick Walsh said. “I don’t think we handled halftime well. I didn’t do a very good job of explaining to the team that you are playing a championship-calibar team, a championship-calibar game, and you’ve got to play 24 more minutes. But on the flip side of that, we showed a lot more resolve tonight, a lot more character and a lot more grit than we’ve shown in the previous two weeks, and that’s something that we’ll build on.”
The two teams were tied for fifth in the Bay Area News Group Top 25 poll entering Friday’s game.
Pittsburg forced Serra into a three-and-out on the first series of the second half, then the Pirates drove 59 yards, all on the ground, to score on a 1-yard run by Jack Lacy III. Melvin Riley provided 57 of those yards and gained all of his game-high 141 yards rushing in the second half.
After another Serra three-and-out, Pittsburg drove inside the 5-yard line and settled for a 19-yard field goal by Lorenzo Anaya. A 27-yard punt return by Pittsburg’s Willie Harts III led eventually to a 17-yard touchdown run by Avant Muldrow. Porter’s defensive touchdown produced the final points of the game for the Pirates.
Harts was busy in the first quarter, as he scored the first two touchdowns of the game. After a 20-yard scoring reception from Trey Turner in the first drive of the game, he grabbed an interception on Serra’s next drive and sprinted 70 yards for another touchdown.
Serra quarterback Luke Bottari helped cut the lead in half with a 20-yard touchdown pass to Malakai Rango, but a four-yard run by Turner gave the Pirates a two-touchdown advantage again.
But Serra came back in the second quarter on a 1-yard touchdown run by Bottari and a 25-yard scoring pass from Bottari to Matt Rollandi. Bottari finished the first half with 21 completions in 27 attempts for 196 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. In the second half, Bottari was 7 for 11 for 91 yards, two touchdown and an interception. He threw fourth-quarter scoring passes to Nate Sanchez and Patrick Simon.
But Pittsburg’s Jacob Bandes, De’jon Benton and Enele Amituanai produced sacks in the second half to move Serra back.
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