Resilient Riordan begins renewal with emotional opening victory
It wasn’t perfect.
There was a load of penalties in the first half. Undisciplined play. And there was a fumble near the end zone late that could have cost Riordan a win in its season-opening game Friday at Terra Nova-Pacifica.
But instead, behind 240 yards rushing and four touchdowns by Fazon Ruth and four sacks from Ian Tupulua, the Crusaders prevailed 28-26 in the West Coast head-coaching debut of Mark Modeste.
“We really improved our disciplined play in the second half,” Modeste said. “The boys were elated.”
It has been a tough road for any of them who were in the program the previous three seasons.
After a breakout 9-4 season in 2015, Riordan fell back on hard times, going a combined 5-25 and 1-20 in West Catholic Athletic League play.
Modeste, whose father coached the team for three seasons starting in 1959, brought energy and stability to the program, though he could relate to Riordan’s challenges over the previous three seasons.
He played at St. Francis and was defensive coordinator for Pete Lavorato during Sacred Heart Prep-Atherton’s great run that produced five Central Coast Section titles and two Northern California crowns.
With four children under 9 years old, Modeste and his wife, Sara, began a more affordable life in Texas. Modeste took a job at Strake-Jesuit in the football-rich Katy school district, going 8-3 as the head coach in 2017.
The football was great, but Hurricane Harvey forced his young family to evacuate its home. With the birth of their fifth child, the Modestes reconsidered their move and sent job inquiries back to the Bay Area, where his family still lived.
Former Riordan assistant and then-head coach Jay’Sen Morris took the athletic director’s post, and he and the Riordan brass offered Modeste the job. With his 86-year-old dad able to assist and $2.9 million in athletic facility renovations in the works for this fall, “it was perfect,” Modeste said. “My wife and I love the Bay Area. It all made sense.”
There have been snags, however. The completion of the renovations has been delayed, 2018 first-team All-WCAL running back Jalen Camp transferred to Terra Nova, and projected starting quarterback Adham Abdelghani suffered a season-ending ACL tear during an Aug. 23 scrimmage.
“I still can’t even think it,” Modeste said on the eve of Friday’s game. “It’s so sad because he had worked so hard in the offseason. He’s so beloved by his teammates. He is such a good player.”
All the ingredients made Friday’s opener understandably emotional, especially with Camp on the other sideline. He finished with 35 yards rushing and a touchdown.
Ruth, a 5-foot-10, 185-pound junior, filled in more than admirably and had his running lanes cleared by 6-foot, 300-pound sophomore fullback Kemoeatu Kefu.
Ruth’s fumble in the red zone, however, set up a potential game-winning score. Like good teammates do, senior cornerback Zachary Charlton had his back, essentially ending the game with an interception near midfield.
When Modeste gathered the players after, he reminded them much more work was ahead, and he was overjoyed to see their joy.
“I told them they deserve to feel that way more often,” Modeste said.
MaxPreps senior writer Mitch Stephens covers high school sports for The San Francisco Chronicle.