3 takeaways from Eastside Catholic vs. Roosevelt: Late-night craziness fuels Crusaders' improbable comeback

Fifth-ranked Eastside Catholic scores 20 unanswered points in final 3:33 to shock No. 4 Roosevelt, 27-26

Dom Daste has overseen some thrillers with Eastside Catholic football - none better than a comeback 27-26 win over Roosevelt in 2024. / Photo by Vince Miller

SEATTLE - How do you describe the "absolute insanity" that takes place at historic downtown Memorial Stadium?

3A Metro football.

And it doesn't get any crazier than what unfolded late Friday night between a pair of league championship contenders.

Fueled by three touchdowns in the final 3:33, fifth-ranked Eastside Catholic roared back from the dead to stagger No. 4 Roosevelt, 27-26, and keep the school's Metro title hopes alive.

Nick Jones' 1-yard direct-snap touchdown push up the middle with four seconds remaining gave the Crusaders their first and only lead - and the victory.

The comeback spoiled a remarkable individual effort from Roosevelt's Zaire Griffin, who scored all four touchdowns and piled up 376 all-purpose yards.

Here are three takeaways from the Eastside Catholic-Roosevelt game:

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SO ... HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?

Trying to process the ending on the fly, Eastside Catholic Dominic Daste wasn't sure how THIS all happened.

For much of the game, outside Griffin's four big scoring plays - and one Isaac Corey 38-yard touchdown pass to Robert Ingram late in the first half - this was a slogger of a game between these 3A Metro heavyweights, full of mistakes and blown opportunities.

And after Griffin's fourth touchdown on a 54-yard pass from Dalton Anderson for a 26-7 Roughriders' lead with 6:09 remaining, the game felt over.

It was just heating up.

* Corey's 38-pass to Asa Thompson on Eastside Catholic's next series led to his 7-yard score to Jeremiah Burroughs on a screen pass to cut it to 26-15 with 3:33 to go.

* Then came the play most Crusaders' coaches and players felt was the real turning point: Defensive end Tytan McNeal's forced fumble on Griffin. Wassie Lugolobi picked it up and returned it 47 yards to the Roughriders' 20 - leading to Corey's 5-yard touchdown pass to Carson McKelheer with 1:45 remaining.

."Momentum," Lugolobi said. "That is what this sport is all about."

* After Roosevelt recovered the onside kick, all it had to do was get one first down to ice the game. On third-and-9 - and with Eastside Catholic out of timeouts - the Roughriders decided to go downfield, but Anderson's pass fell incomplete.

"I said to myself ... 'We need so many things to happen,'" Burroughs said. "We needed a miracle, and it happened."

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NICK JONES CALLED UPON IN CLUTCH

After Burroughs' punt return set up the Crusaders at the Roosevelt 46-yard line with 1:14 remaining, all it did was set this game up for a dramatic ending.

The unsung big-chunk play on Burroughs' screen-play catch on the first play. He broke three tackles and rumbled down the right sideline for a 34-yard gain.

But then he cramped up. And Corey, after getting the offense near the goal-line with a couple of run, left in the closing seconds to put his head in a garbage can (vomit).

So, Daste called on Jones to go win it from the Roughriders' 1 in the Wildcat formation.

"The package had been in all week," Daste said. "JB had ran it a couple of times ... so I felt good about it. I didn't care who ran it. "

Jones followed Lugolobi's lead block and stretched out his arms at the goal-line.

Officials paused a few seconds to make sure they got the right call. They signaled it as a touchdown.

"I reached across," Jones said, "and had it by a couple of inches."

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ROOSEVELT BLEW IT

So many points could be debated from the home sideline, but Roosevelt coach Sam Adams deduced the shocking loss to one thing - penalties.

There were lots of them.

Nothing hurt more than in the final seconds when Jaymar Tasi had what would have been a game-ending sack of Corey - but the play was negated by a too-many-players-on-the-field penalty on the Roughriders.

"That is on me. It was bad coaching," Adams said. "My hat is off to them (Crusaders) - they earned it. They played better down the stretch. They were more organized."

Roosevelt still has a chance for at least a share of the league crown if it can upend O'Dea in a couple of weeks.

"They have to decide," Adams said, "to put it together."

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