If there’s one word to describe the Capital Christian football team, it’s resilient.

The Cougars battled adversity over the past two seasons and throughout these playoffs. On Friday at West Park High School in Roseville, seventh-seeded Capital Christian withstood a spirited fourth-quarter comeback attempt by the No. 3 Panthers, winning 41-34 in a Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV semifinal to return to next week’s section championship game.

The Cougars (7-5) took advantage of their reinstatement to the section playoffs. The section handed Capital Christian a two-year postseason ban after the 2021 spring season when the school was linked to club football activity on its campus during a statewide health order that imposed rigid COVID-19 restrictions. The ban was reduced to one year after the section and Capital Christian reached a settlement last July. The section’s sanctions included no home playoff games, however, for the remainder of the 2022 season.

That hasn’t impacted the team’s desire to win.

“A lot of people counted us out,” said Capital Christian senior Kanye Clark. “A lot of people said we’re gonna lose when we go out to these away games, but every week we show up.”

Capital Christian went 1-5 to start the season, but the Cougars are now riding a six-game winning streak into the finals. They beat Will C. Wood 48-13 before knocking off second-seeded Casa Roble 42-35 last week.

“(Our) kids just come to work every day,” Capital Christian coach Saul Patu said. “They’re just good kids, so we’re super proud of them, and I look forward every single day for them to come out and do a great job for us.”

Working mostly out of the wildcat on its first series, Capital Christian scored on a short run from Kanye Clark to go up 7-0. After the Panthers went three-and-out, Clark took a punt return 61 yards for another score to make it 14-0 after five minutes.

West Park got its first score as Develle Barksdale hit Zy Style for a 5-yard connection. Ryan Sisson intercepted a pass on the ensuing drive and returned it into the Capital Christian red zone, setting up a 15-yard TD hookup from Barksdale to Westin Wade to tie the score at 14 before the first quarter ended.

Defensive lineman John Henry Rouse took a pick-6 into the end zone at the 10:42 mark of the second quarter, giving Capital Christian a 21-14 halftime cushion.

The Cougars scored in the third on a 9-yard QB keeper from Eddie Brusuelas. West Park cut it to a one-score game after a 23-yard keeper from Barksdale with 22 seconds left in the third.

Dreshawn Richardson and Max Ellison scored on consecutive possessions to extend the Cougar lead to 41-21 before West Park began mounting a late comeback.

Barksdale rushed for a 4-yard score and threw for a 1-yard TD to Jordan Morse to once again make it a one-score game with 1:36 left.

The Panthers’ onside kick attempt was recovered by Capital, which knelt out the game clock and began to celebrate.

West Park (9-2) became the first regional football program to win an outright league championship in its inaugural varsity season as a member of the Greater Sacramento League last year. Now, in year two, the Panthers established themselves as a force to be reckoned with in the rugged Foothill Valley League.

“They’ve worked really hard and helped us build a great foundation for years to come,” West Park head coach Jason Tenner said. “We’ve been learning a lot on the fly, and they’ve been responsive to what we’ve been trying to get them to do, and that’s made all the difference, and that’s why we’re here.”

Capital Christian now seeks its fifth section championship against top-seeded Vanden next weekend.

This story was originally published November 18, 2022 at 11:35 PM.