Ramon Road Rivalry: Rancho Mirage scores twice in final three minutes to stun Palm Springs

Rancho Mirage head coach LD Matthews had a pretty simple eight-word postgame speech for his team.

He gathered them, calmed them down after their dramatic road win at Palm Springs on Friday and once they went silent, he screamed "How bout them Rattlers!" at the top of his lungs, which elicited a roar. He quieted them down again, getting serious, and he shouted to the heavens again "How bout them Rattlers!"

It was a crazy, come-from-behind, cathartic win for the Rattlers who scored two touchdowns in the final 3 minutes to steal a 26-20 victory over the Indians and win the Ramon Road Rivalry which has quickly become a heated contest with plenty of trash talk and social media vitriol leading into the game.

Adding to the sweet taste of victory for the Rattlers is that they lost to Palm Springs last year 43-7. That wasn't forgotten throughout the week leading up to the game.

"This was a dog fight, it was everything a rivalry game is all about and our kids were extremely disappointed with what happened last year," Matthews said after the win. "We had the best week of practice we've had all year, so I'm just proud of our kids, our coaching staff, it's just ... it's a great day to be a Rattler.

"Honestly, I'm very happy with our team. Their discipline has changed from two weeks ago. The little things are now starting to matter. Because of that we gave ourselves an opportunity to win tonight. Hats off to Palm Springs."

Matthews wasn't alone. Every Rancho Mirage player had a smile as they hugged and high-fived and took photos after the win. This one meant more than just a win to open the league season.

"Nobody believed in us and there was a lot of trash-talking, and here we are and we couldn't have done it without everyone on this team, starters, backups, we were going at it so hard in practice, that was huge," said sophomore receiver Kobee Finnikin, who caught the game-winning touchdown. "After getting beat so bad by them last year, I didn't want to let that happen again."

The game

Palm Springs held a 20-12 halftime lead, and remarkably it stayed that way until there were three minutes to go in the game as both defenses rose up in the second half.

Finally, Rancho Mirage started to get something going, and after throwing several 8- to 10-yard hitch routes throughout the game, the Rattlers finally caught Palm Springs with a hitch and go. Quarterback Yanni Padilla threw a perfect pass to Edward Johnson for a pretty 37-yard touchdown to make it 20-18 with 2:50 to go in the game.

Naturally, the Rattlers went for two, and Padilla hit Johnson with a pass at the goal line. As Johnson was being knocked backward by two Indians' defenders, he reached out and got the ball across the goal line to tie the game at 20-all.

Palm Springs received the kickoff, but threw three straight incomplete passes. Almost no time went off the clock and now they were punting back to Rancho Mirage into the wind. Sure enough, the punt was stifled by the wind and then took a big Rancho Mirage bounce backward. All of a sudden, the Rattlers had the ball in a tie game at the Palm Springs 35-yard line with about 2:30 minutes to go.

A couple of chunk runs by Padilla got them inside the 20, and with 1:35 to go, Padilla hit Finnikin with a gorgeous 17-yard TD pass into the back left of the end zone. The PAT kick was no good, so the Rattlers led 26-20, but did they score too soon?

Palm Springs had a nice kickoff return, and then hit a big pass play from Favian Galvez to Koa Rapolla which brought the ball to the Rattlers' 30-yard line. After a run and a Rancho Mirage penalty, the Indians had a first down at the Rancho Mirage 15-yard line. After a 1-yard run, the Indians called timeout with 37 seconds left.

But on the next play, the Indians bobbled the shotgun snap and Rancho Mirage's Mason Hershberger jumped on the ball. The fumble recovery set off a wild celebration on the Rattlers sideline and in the packed stands as the school brought their student section on the road for the rivalry game.

"We were so motivated in this one, and this is my first year as a starting quarterback, so I really didn't know how I would play in big moments, but my team believed in me and we came through with the win," said Padilla, who finished with three touchdown passes.

The stars

Kobee Finnikin, Rancho Mirage receiver: Finnikin had the game-winning touchdown and in the first half threw a touchdown pass on a beautifully designed trick play. Finnikin took a sweep handoff and ran toward the sideline but stopped and threw a pass to a wide-open Noah Hook for a well-executed TD.

Yanni Padilla, Rancho Mirage quarterback: Padilla threw for 202 yards and three touchdowns, including the two in the final three minutes, and a 12-yarder to Pedro Gomez in the first half.

Abel Flores, Rancho Mirage linebacker: Flores made tackle after tackle and spearheaded a defense that kept the Rattlers off the board in the second half.

Edward Johnson and Noah Hook, Rancho Mirage receivers: They wear Nos. 8 and 9 and they are hard to tell apart and hard to guard. Both scored a touchdown in the game, and Johnson's late score and two-point conversion were game-changing.

Chief Togafau-Paleafei, Palm Springs defensive lineman: Chief had a big game, with three tackles for loss, including two crucial ones in the second half. Hee had a fumble recovery in the first half.

Jordan Johnson, Palm Springs running back: Johnson had two more touchdowns, a 42-yarder to put the Indians up early and a 6-yarder.

Bishop Miller, Palm Springs quarterback: Miller completed 10 of 14 passes, most of the short variety, but he played mistake-free football and scored right before the half on a quarterback sneak.

The chatter

Coach Matthews on his team's effort: "We're a very young team and this is a big game and I think early in the first half there were some jitters and miscommunication and not getting the correct play call in and things like that but we settled in more in the second half and I want to say hats off to our defense, too. They made a huge stop at the end of the game, didn't allow a point in the second half going against a very big, very talented offensive line."

Yanni Padilla: "I started out not doing too good at all tonight, but my teammates motivated me, as well as just this being such a rivalry. The trash-talk, all the stuff on social media -- that motivated me, too."

Kobee Finnikin on his game-winning catch: "I felt great, I made my move and knew I was open and I saw the ball in the air, perfectly thrown and I just wanted to attack. That's what I like to do."

What's next

Rancho Mirage (3-2 overall, 1-0 DEL) will head home to host Shadow Hills on Friday. The Indians (1-5, 0-1) will hit the road to play La Quinta.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Rancho Mirage scores twice in final three minutes to stun Palm Springs