Coronado High led undefeated Patrick Henry 19-14 at halftime Friday, Oct. 16, then gave up 36 second-half points in a 50-26 road loss that dropped the Islanders to 1-7.
The collapse erased what Coach Josh Dean called "a fun half" of complementary football. Coronado's screen game produced two explosive touchdowns before the break, but turnovers and big plays by the Patriots blew the game open in the third quarter.
Quarterback Jack O'Sullivan connected with wide receiver Reese Pagon on a 51-yard screen pass for a first-quarter touchdown and a 7-0 lead. Late in the second quarter, with Coronado trailing 13-14 and under 30 seconds on the clock, O'Sullivan found running back Melo Avetyan on a slip screen from the Islanders' 48-yard line. Avetyan broke a tackle, hugged the sideline and scored from 52 yards out to put Coronado ahead 19-14, according to the Coronado Eagle & Journal.
A failed two-point conversion kept the margin at five.
The second half was a different game. Patrick Henry needed three plays after the kickoff to connect on a 65-yard touchdown pass and retake the lead 21-19. On the ensuing return, Coronado fumbled at its own 32-yard line. One play later, Kymani Joseph hauled in a 32-yard touchdown pass to make it 28-19.
Patrick Henry senior quarterback Madin Gardini finished with 543 yards of total offense and six touchdowns, East County Sports reported. He completed 22 of 33 passes for 425 yards and five scores and added 118 rushing yards and another touchdown. The win moved the Patriots to 8-0 for the first time since 1997.
Coronado's only second-half score came on a three-yard rushing touchdown by Colt Pagon with 3:42 left in the fourth quarter.
"Very frustrating to not be able to rebound from a few minutes of things not going our way," Dean said. "We will continue to work on having a short memory and encouraging our guys that they're the same team that went out in the first half and made a bunch of plays."
The Islanders, now 0-3 in City League play, host Mira Mesa (6-2) on Friday, Oct. 23, at 7 p.m. They close the regular season Oct. 30 against Kearny.
