Aptos’ Nick Forbes vs Palma’s Luke Rossi | GSF Game of the Week

This game will go down in the GSF vault as the other exciting game that took place on September 10th, 2021. So which game was the exciting one you ask? On the same night, the longest streak in high school football history was broken, 45 miles away from Aptos High by the St. Francis Lancers after beating the Mighty De La Salle Spartans 31-28.

It was a battle between two undefeated teams, one ranked slightly higher than the other but both played their potential to the max. Palma came in battle-tested after beating two WCAL teams while Aptos handles their business easily against Campolindo and Mills with a combined score of 98-0.

As expected, Palma’s offensive attack started off smooth with 21 points in the first quarter. Senior QB Luke Rossi connected with sophomore star Logan Saldate a couple of times, the first one being a 79-yard TD for the first touchdown of the game. Rossi was consistent through the first half with two touchdown passes and a rushing touchdown. He added two more in the second half and finished the game with 12 completed passes out of 19 attempts for 260 yards and four touchdowns. He also rushed for 51 yards on 8 carries and scored from the one-yard line late in the first half.

Aptos started off hot and scored right after falling behind early. Led by QB Nick Forbes, it only took the Mariners 6 plays to go 80 yards and score. But they struggled after that but got things going again in the second quarter. With 8:34 left in the half, running back Caden Pritchard took the handoff from Forbes 29 yards up the middle for a touchdown. Six game clock minutes later, Forbes orchestrated a touchdown drive following a 35-minute game delay due to a serious injury on one of the Palma players, that got the Mariners close to within a touchdown, 28-21. With 9 seconds left in the half, Forbes connected with Rio Cruz up top and that gave Aptos the momentum for the second half.

Palma offensively was running well, passing well but the defense struggled to stop the Mariners. Aptos scored twice in the third to even out the score at 35-35 heading into the fourth. Rossi connected with Finley and Saldate for the Chieftains’ two second-half scores. Saldate finished with 5 receptions for 138 yards and two touchdowns. Finley had three grabs for 54 yards and a touchdown. He had one TD that got called back in the fourth as well.

When Palma figured out how to stop the Mariners’ offense, Aptos added Forbes’ keeper to the mix and it resulted in two touchdowns that made the Chieftains defense helpless. Two late TDs by Seamus Carey gave Aptos the momentum that carried them to victory. Penalties hurt Palma late in the game and Aptos executed the perfect onside kick that led to Carey’s game-winning touchdown. James Timko was quiet the entire game and did not waste his opportunity when it presented itself. A play worthy of this week’s GSF Hustle Play of the Week award, Timko perfectly timed the high bouncer and snagged it for Aptos to keep going. Palma got the ball back with 15.1 seconds left but failed to connect for the game-winner and lost 47-42.

Forbes was awarded the GSF Week #3 Game of the Week MVP shirt. Seamus Carey earned the Playmaker shirt for his two big touchdowns down the stretch.