New league, same swagger: Piedmont defying odds again as team seeks another MVAL/WACC title
FREMONT – Piedmont was one of the feel-good stories of last season, a team that captured the MVAL/WACC Shoreline Division title one year after its program was shut down midseason.
Things were supposed to be tougher for the Highlanders in 2024, when they were moved into the tougher Mission Division.
Piedmont obviously hasn’t gotten the memo.
After defeating preseason favorite Hayward last week, the East Bay school routed undefeated league rival Irvington 49-7 on the Vikings’ homecoming night, and now has the inside track to winning its second straight league title.
As acclaimed musical artist Ice Spice once pondered, are the Highlanders ‘a two hit wonder’? Or is Piedmont now just a darn good football team?
“There’s no such thing as a two hit wonder,” defensive back Miguel Long said. “And now that we’ve won these two league games, no one is going to stop us, or at least I hope.”
Piedmont led 35-0 at halftime and the fourth quarter was played with a running clock. The offense was phenomenal, with dual-threat quarterback Markos Lagios throwing for three touchdowns and rushing for another.
Oakland Tech transfer Xavier Henderson caught Lagios’ first touchdown, Cash Elmquist pulled in the second, and Jack Meyjes finished Piedmont’s scoring with a touchdown reception on a slick slant route.
The Piedmont offensive line, led by senior Liam Leahy, played with a ruthlessness reminiscent of Sid from Toy Story and gave the offense plenty of time and room to operate.
Those easy touchdowns were a far cry from the frustration Piedmont felt during opening week, when Salesian routed the Highlanders 46-14.
“I think we were feeling ourselves coming off of last year,” said Seiden, who added that the loss gave the team a new edge.
The defense, led by linebacker Elmquist, got two interceptions returned for touchdowns. Senior Brandon Dicke had one on the last play of the first half, donning a silver and purple “turnover chain” to celebrate.
“We wanted to show people that you should not be scheduling the Piedmont football team on homecoming,” Dicke said.
A few minutes earlier, teammate Long had also expanded Piedmont’s lead with a pick six.
Irvington avoided the shutout when Matt Forbes ran for his 14th rushing touchdown of the season late in the fourth quarter.
Coach Anthony Jackson said that his team finally paid for some bad habits built up during easy victories against overmatched opponents, and expects improvement in those areas following the team’s first loss.
To Irvington’s credit, the group led by linebacker Tommy Chang and Usmaan Nasri continued to fight hard as they were buoyed by a student section stayed loud until the final whistle.
“We’re gonna have a chip on our shoulder now,” quarterback Angel Perez said. “We were playing sloppy football today, and we’ve got to get back to work.”
Piedmont (6-1, 2-0) plays host to Washington-Fremont on Friday. Meanwhile, the Vikings (6-1, 1-1) play host to Newark-Memorial.