Few people know the inner-workings of Skyline's offense quite like former defensive coordinator — and current East assistant coach — Larry Eldracher.
In fact, after his team's 14-0 victory over East Friday, Skyline coach Roger Dupaix joked that, "they knew what we were going to do before I knew what we were going to do."
The insider info helped East hang with the No. 1 team in the state, but two big plays prevented the Leopards from actually pulling off the upset.
Kalama Molisi hauled in a 52-yard touchdown strike from Ben Marlowe late in the second quarter, and then Marlowe returned a punt 61 yards for another score midway through the third, and that was all Skyline's defense needed.
"The D did it all today, it was all the defense," said Marlowe.
The Eagles limited East to 201 yards of total offense, which definitely helped Skyline overcome a lethargic evening offensively as its finished with just 225 yards of its own.
Early in the game, it was clear the first meeting between these East side schools since 1992 was going to be intense. The fact Skyline forced East to punt on its opening drive wasn't too surprising. But when the Leopards responded by forcing Skyline into a missed field goal despite a first-and-goal situation, it was obvious East came to play.
On Skyline's next possession, Marlowe fumbled trying to avoid a sack deep in his own territory, and East's Taani Fisilau recovered the ball at the 24 yard line. Just like the Eagles, however, East couldn't punch it in and then missed a short field goal as well.
Throughout most of the first half, East's defense did a good job bottling up Skyline stud running back Molisi. Molisi only needed two plays late in the second quarter to remind everyone why the junior is one of the best players in the state.
He took a sweep off left tackle, barrelled his way over East defensive back Tanner Bowman and then broke several more tackles on his way to a 29-yard run. Molisi actually de-cleated and knocked Bowman's helmet off simultaneously.
"It gets us fired up, it gives us goose bumps," said Skyline linebacker Taylor Sedillo. "It makes you jump up and down. That's what football is all about."
On the very next play, Molisi lined up as a receiver and hauled in a long TD strike from Marlowe to put the Eagles ahead 7-0 with 3:16 remaining in the half.
Marlowe made it 14-0 with 6:11 left in the third quarter as he danced untouched through East's punt coverage for a 61-yard return.
"We've been working on that punt return all week, so it worked out for us," said Marlowe.
East was prepared on special teams to stop Molisi, who returned two kickoffs for touchdowns last week, but apparently it wasn't quite ready for such explosiveness from Marlowe.
For Sedillo, it was exactly the type of game he was expecting.
"We knew they were going to come to play, that's one of the best East teams that will ever come out of East High," he said. "I picked them to take 4A, I knew it was going to be a tight game."
Skyline improved to 2-0 with the win, while East dropped to 0-2.