Shasta football upsets Foothill with last-second two-point conversion
There was little doubt Shasta was going to go for two and the win.
The question was “Who gets the ball?” after the Wolves scored with no time on the clock to pull within 34-33 in their Eastern Athletic League opener Friday against Foothill.
The answer was an emphatic “Me” from Shasta fullback Ryder May.
“When the kid tells you in the timeout that he wants the ball, that’s what you do,” Wolves coach Aaron Richards said after the 35-34 victory.
May took the handoff from quarterback Justin Polley, ran right and bullied his way into the end zone for the victory.
“Of course, I wanted the ball,” May said. “I believe in my ability and believe in my teammates.”
Here are three takeaways from Shasta’s win and how the Wolves (5-1, 1-0 EAL) got in the position for the thrilling, last-second win.
Late-night heroics
Foothill (3-3, 0-1 EAL) regained the lead 34-27 with 4:14 left in the fourth quarter after a 5-minute drive capped by a Hunter Marchione to Dawson Mortimer screen set up beautifully on an all-out Shasta blitz.
But the go-ahead gave Shasta enough time to try and engineer the game-winning drive.
“I purposely didn’t use the timeouts on defense because I wanted to save them for exactly that reason,” Richards said.The Wolves got into the red zone with the clock winding under 1 minute after driving the field with a series of runs and passes to the boundary. After using its final timeout, Shasta ran the ball on third-and-goal from the 3, but was stopped by the Foothill defense.
With the clock spinning, junior quarterback Polley had enough presence of mind to settle his team, get them set and snap the ball right before the clock hit 0.00. He took a two-step drop, looked to the far corner and lofted a pass to well-defended tight end Arbour Duggan for his second TD grab of the second half.
“Arbour is one of those guys,” Richards said. “He’s not the flashiest, but goes about his business and makes plays.”
Foothill coach Ross Griffith felt they left too much time on the clock, but was confident his defense could rise to the challenge.
“We tried to talk to our guys about situational football (at the end of the game),” he said. “They had no timeouts and the receiver made a play right there.”
More: Game of the Week: Foothill visits Shasta to kick off Eastern Athletic League play
Big-play Cougars
The game was a bit of contrasts as Shasta used its Wing-T offense to try and control the clock, while the Cougars were wildly successful in exploiting big plays during the first half to stay even with the Wolves.
Foothill scored twice on one-play drives — the first on an 80-yard burst from Mortimer and the second on a 74-yard scamper from Alonzo Borchert.
The other two Foothill scores, a 23-yard Mortimer run and an 8-yard Marchione keeper, each capped drives that took less than three minutes.
“Dawson ran hard for us,” Griffith said. “I’m not sure he came off the field.”
Second-half adjustments
After giving up a handful of big plays in the opening 24 minutes, the Wolves held the Cougars on their first drive of the second half, forcing a turnover on downs near midfield.
The Wolves were led by defensive end Austin Powell’s nine tackles as junior linebacker Kyle WIlkes added six tackles, two tackles for loss and a fumble recovery. Senior safety Shakespeare Taylor also had a red-zone interception.
“They were bringing good pressure off the edge,” Griffith said, “and credit to coach (Jim) Schuette, he did a good job adjusting in the second half.”
West Valley 44, Central Valley 38
Junior running back Cooper Staup ran for 203 yards on 27 carries and three touchdowns as the Eagles scored twice in the final minutes to upend the Falcons.
“We practice no-huddle every day for at least 20 minutes,” West Valley coach Jason Westin said.
The Eagles executed that perfectly, going 89 yards for the equalizer with less than three minutes remaining on Isaac Brackett’s touchdown. The two-point conversion knotted the score at 38.
After kicking off to Central Valley, Trent Nehls intercepted Falcons’ QB Osker Trompczynski deep in CV territory. The Eagles scored on a 35-yard crossing route from John Puffer to Jesus Cervantes.
West Valley sophomore Puffer was 15-of-18 for 195 yards and two scores for West Valley.
Staup’s big night was needed because CV senior running back Diego Recio had a monster night in the loss, running for 280 yards on 37 carries and four touchdowns. Recio also had 12 tackles.
“We knew Diego was a warrior from last season when it took all 11 to spot him as a junior,” Westin said.
Defensively, West Valley was paced by junior Jesus Cervantes’ 22 tackles while Trent Nehls added 10.
More: Red Bluff football blows past West Valley after trailing early
Pleasant Valley 57, Enterprise 42
The Hornets grabbed a lead over the Vikings in the fourth quarter of the EAL shootout, but the Pleasant Valley quarterback answered with a 40-yard TD pass to Demetrius Norwood. Enterprise turned the ball over its next possession and the PV offense scored twice to salt away the game.
Garcia threw for 212 yards on 11-of-18 passing and three scores for PV (4-2, 1-0)
Junior Alijah Bobo ran for 103 yards on 13 carries and two scores for the Hornets (4-2, 0-1). JJ Johnson was 18-of-30 for 267 yards passing and three touchdowns and added 96 yards rushing and another score.
Porter Fischer continued his impressive junior campaign as Johnson’s go-to target with 192 yards receiving and two scores on 11 catches. Marcus Moore grabbed Johnson’s other touchdown pass.
Jalan Aerni led the Hornets with 16 tackles, including two for loss while Andrew Alavarez added 10 tackles.
U-Prep 43, Lassen 21
Senior quarterback Sawyer Hokanson threw for three scores and ran one in as the Panthers built a 23-7 lead by halftime in the Northern Athletic League opener.
Hokanson was 14-of-18 passing for 267 yards and added 47 yards on the ground while brothers Bailey Wurzer had 71 yards rushing and sophomore Tyson Wurzer added 58 and a score for U-Prep (5-1, 1-0 NAL).
“Our kids played hard and overcame some sluggishness coming out of a bye week,” coach Dustin Fortenberry said. “We’re proud of our young men, but we're reminded that we have a lot to clean up as we get deeper in NAL games.”
West Valley 44, Central Valley 38
Junior running back Cooper Staup scored in the game’s final play, capping a 200-yard night and the six-point win for the Eagles. He ran for 203 yards on 27 carries and three touchdowns as Isaach Bracket added another score.
West Valley sophomore quarterback John Puffer was 15-of-18 for 195 yards and two scores for West Valley.
Staup’s big night was needed because CV senior running back Diego Recio had a monster night in the loss, running for 280 yards on 37 carries and four touchdowns. Recio also had 12 tackles.
Defensively, West Valley was paced by junior Jesus Cervantes’ 22 tackles while Trent Nehls added 10.
Miners quarterback Lucas Day threw for 209 yards and three touchdowns while a running back committee gained nearly 300 yards and scored four more times as Yreka is off to its best start from 2012.
Day rushed for one score while senior back Mason Rabago had two rushing TDs and 89 yards. Trevan Crane scored once with 87 yards on the ground for Yreka (5-1, 1-0 NAL).
For Anderson (3-3, 0-1 NAL), Mason McFadden was 2-of-5 passing for 111 yards and added a 98-yard run. Sophomore Michael Manley tossed a TD pass and ran for 79 yards and a score.
Chico 13, Red Bluff 0
Azari Cruz hit Logan Treanor with a touchdown pass and Dion Coleman scored on a 70-yard touchdown run as the Panthers (5-1, 1-0 EAL) blanked the Spartans (4-2, 0-1).
Other Northern Section scores
Weed 58, Redding Christian 0
Biggs 31, Trinity 12
Gridley 14, Corning 7
Los Molinos 26, Quincy 7
Orland 79, Oroville 0
East Nicolas 20, Durham 14
Portola 36, Modoc 28
Hamilton 60, Willows 8
Las Plumas 46, Paradise 11
Tulelake 34, Chester 8
Hayfork 58, Big Valley 6
This article originally appeared on Visalia Times-Delta: Shasta football upsets Foothill with last-second two-point conversion
