Metro 3A / Eastside Catholic 36, Seattle Prep 35 (Ot) -- Brandeberry Comes Up Big

Mark Brandeberry scored late in regulation and again in overtime as Eastside Catholic held on to beat Seattle Prep 36-35 last night in a Metro League football game at West Seattle Stadium.

The victory left the Crusaders 2-0 in league and in first place, 4-0 overall.

The Crusaders lead undefeated O'Dea by a half-game. O'Dea plays Blanchet tonight at Edmonds Stadium.

Seattle Prep is 2-1 in league, 3-1 overall.

At 5-foot-7 and 142 pounds, Brandberry does not make an imposing running back; he is listed as a wide receiver on the roster.

But when Eastside Catholic's leading rusher and receiver, Evan Hecker, suffered an ankle injury in the first quarter, Brandeberry became an important piece in the puzzle.

Brandeberry finished with 81 yards rushing and 125 yards receiving.

He connected with quarterback Lane Martin on a 43-yard touchdown pass with 43 seconds left in the game to give Eastside Catholic a 29-26 lead.

Seattle Prep moved 34 yards in four plays and sent the game into overtime on Duncan Libby's 40-yard field goal with one second left.

In overtime, Brandeberry took over.

He ran for 13 yards on the first play, and then two plays later scored on a 4-yard run. Casey Henebry's extra point made it 36-29.

Seattle Prep answered when Stephen DeShazo caught a 4-yard touchdown pass from Ira Gerlich on fourth down, but on the extra point, the Panthers tried a little bit of trickery and it failed.

Gerlich took the snap and started to run. He tried to pass into the end zone, but the ball slipped out of his hands and with it, the victory slipped away from Seattle Prep.

Jonathan Wells ran for 172 yards on 29 carries and one touchdown for Seattle Prep, which also got 199 yards passing from Gerlich.

Lane completed 9 of 17 passes for 156 yards for Eastside Catholic while Brandeberry led the way on the ground with 81 yards.

Eastside Catholic seemed to have the game put away in the fourth quarter.

The Crusaders scored two touchdowns in a 1:45 span and led 23-12 when Mark Rosauer scored on a 7-yard run early in the fourth quarter.

The Panthers drew close on Gerlich's 1-yard touchdown run with 7:38 left to make it 23-18 and took the lead at 26-23 with 4:01 left on Michael Carey's 2-yard touchdown run.

But Brandeberry countered with the late touchdown in regulation and then capped off his impressive night with another score in overtime.