If Justin-Siena High’s football team wants reason to hope, it can find it in the words of an archrival’s head coach.

“That’s the toughest game we’ve ever had against them,” Marin Catholic coach Ken Peralta said after his team pounded out a bruising 14-10 Marin County Athletic League win over Justin on Friday night.

“Justin-Siena’s got a great football team. They’re going to bounce back and, I think, be a playoff team.”

Justin falls to 1-2 in the MCAL, 3-3 overall, after playing a second straight week without injured star lineman Casey Tompkins. The Braves had to use lineman Justin Clayton sparingly in the second half after he sprained his ankle in the second quarter.

The victory ups Marin Catholic’s MCAL record to 3-0, while Justin-Siena falls to 1-2 after losing to San Marin at home last week.

“We played a very good football team and were fortunate to come away with a win. That (Justin) loss to San Marin was an anomaly,” Peralta said. “They played exceptionally hard.”

Justin just came up short in a game that was in the balance until Marin Catholic took possession late to run out the clock.

“We played well and I couldn’t ask for more,” Justin coach Rich Cotruvo said.

“I’m sure Marin Catholic’s over there wondering how we could’ve lost to San Marin. I’m proud of our guys. We’ve gone three weeks without committing a turnover. We played great defense. We moved the ball up and down the field. We just had trouble moving the ball in the red zone.”

Indeed, Justin pushed deep into Marin Catholic territory five times and came away with only a 37-yard field goal by Jordan Grubbs as Marin Catholic (4-1) took a 14-3 lead into the final period.

The problems inside Wildcats territory had nothing to do with junior quarterback Eddie Aguayo. The junior speedster rushed 21 times for 80 yards — with his total sliced significantly by three sacks. He passed for 91 yards and caught a pass from Kevin Reinell good for 18 yards.

“Eddie played like an all-league quarterback tonight,” Cotruvo said. “He played his butt off. We’re just having trouble coming up with the big plays on third down. We’re just not doing what we need to do in the red zone.”

Craig Cybulski recovered a fumble to set Justin up at the Marin Catholic 21 in the second quarter. The Braves went nowhere, though, and Grubbs kicked the field goal.

Marin Catholic roared 80 yards on six plays to score. Nate Kristoff completed a 35-yard pass to Kai Cortright, then found him in the end for a 24-yard touchdown. Joseph Wiessler’s kick gave the Wildcats a 7-3 lead.

The Braves used two runs totaling 35 yards from Marcus Solis to get first down at the Wildcats’ 24. The drive stalled, however, and a 38-yard field goal was wide right with halftime just seconds away.

Nico Dumont returned the second half kickoff 25 yards to get Marin Catholic going quickly after intermission. Dumont threw a pass covering 38 yards to Blair White to set up Wagner’s 4-yard TD run. Wiessler’s kick made it 14-3.

Justin took possession with 11:51 left in the game at its own 48. Aguayo spun out of a sack and gained five yards to get the drive moving. Then, the defense reacted to his play-fake and tackled running back Daniel Pardini to free the quarterback for a seven-yard gain. Two plays later, Aguayo used a pump-fake to elude another heavy pass rush and burst seven more yards. He followed a big block from Clayton around right end to set up an eight-yard TD toss to Cybulski. Grubbs’ kick cut the gap to 14-10 with 7:59 to go.

The Wildcats boldly put the lead on the line going for it on fourth down, needing just inches, seconds after that score. Dumont got hit by Guido Murnig and didn’t appear to make any forward progress, but the ’Cats were given a favorable spot and the first down. Murnig made another key stop on third down before Kevin Haugen intercepted a pass to set the Braves up for one final gasp.

Aguayo was blindsided and sacked on second down. A holding penalty pushed Justin back 10 more yards. Pardini caught a screen pass and had open field between him and the first down marker, but Michael Kruger made a fine open-field tackle to kill the drive.

“Our defense stepped up and saved this one for us,” Peralta said.