MISSION VIEJO — The Wilcox Chargers could have folded at halftime Saturday. Four hundred miles from their Santa Clara home, they trailed by three touchdowns in the Division 2-A state championship game after a second-quarter call that would have made the score closer — perhaps much closer — went woefully against them.
But the Chargers didn’t fold.
They got back into the game with two third-quarter touchdowns. They cut the margin to three with another touchdown and a two-point conversion in the fourth quarter.
They got a stop and the ball back with 5:37 left.
They drove 64 yards for a touchdown to grab the lead, only to watch Scripps Ranch-San Diego march 80 yards in 11 plays to win the championship 31-28.
Jax Leatherwood’s 10-yard pass to Dean Paley with 27 seconds left was the decisive score, a gut-punch for Wilcox after the Chargers thought they won the game earlier in the series when sophomore linebacker Jeramiah Lewis intercepted a pass.
Wilcox (10-5) was flagged for defensive holding and Scripps Ranch (13-1) kept moving the chains.
“I was already excited,” Lewis said. “I went straight to the sideline. Saw my teammates. Saw the crowd jumping, and I turned around and saw the flag. At first, they were saying it was on them. It’s a tough call.”
Wilcox coach Paul Rosa said he needed to watch the film of that play.
“It was a pretty loose game,” Rosa said. “There weren’t many flags the whole game. Guys were playing hard. All of a sudden there was a flag on an interception. That’s a tough one to swallow.”
Lamont Wilkerson II ended Wilcox’s final hope when he intercepted a pass near midfield in the waning seconds.
When it was over, Rosa, who led the Chargers to a 3-A state championship in 2018, huddled his players in the corner of the end zone.
He told them “a lot of guys would have quit at halftime” and that they “dominated the second half.” He told them that the adversity they overcame will help them as they go through life after football.
“We did a good job,” Rosa later told the Bay Area News Group. “I am happy about that. It would have been pretty easy to go in there and quit at halftime.”
The Chargers never quit on their season, either. They had won their previous nine games after a 1-4 start.
A 1-yard run by Wilcox star Luther K. Glenn gave the Chargers a 28-24 lead with 2:17 to go.
Earlier in the quarter, Glenn caught a 35-yard touchdown pass from Armand Johnson and Johnson then threw a two-point conversion pass to Charlie Carlson that cut the margin to 24-21 with 8:50 to go.
“Coach gave us a little halftime speech,” Glenn said. “Got our mind right. We just had to focus. That eight-hour trip kind of messed us up.”
Glenn, a senior, ran for 146 yards and two touchdowns in 22 attempts to finish the season with 2,364 yards. He also caught three passes for 60 yards and a touchdown.
Johnson threw for 190 yards, including seven completions to Carlson for 106 yards.
Leatherwood was 21-of-37 passing for 337 yards and four touchdowns for Scripps Ranch. The 6-foot-6 quarterback’s top target, Conor Lawlor, caught seven passes for 199 yards and three TDs.
The second half was quite a reversal for Wilcox after it committed four first-half turnovers, officially, including three inside the Scripps Ranch 30.
Despite the miscues, the Chargers should have trailed by just a touchdown when Glenn crossed the goal line from the 1 near the end of the first half.
But the running back fumbled after he should have been given a touchdown. It wasn’t close, replays showed. Glenn was in the end zone.
A teammate pounced on the loose ball, but it squirted free and out of the back of the end zone.
The officials called it a touchback.
Two plays later, Leatherwood completed a short pass to Lawlor, and the receiver raced to the end zone for a 74-yard touchdown that widened the San Diego school’s advantage to 21-0.
“It’s high school football,” Rosa said. “There is no replay. You’re going to get those things. We made too many mistakes. It doesn’t always come down to one play. But, yes, that’s a huge call.”
The half ended with the fourth of Wilcox’s five turnovers, an interception.
The second half was another story.
It was almost Wilcox’s finest hour until the final Scripps Ranch drive ended with the dramatic touchdown.
Rose put that moment into perspective.
“That’s why you play,” Rosa said. “You just want the experience of this. Not just winning or losing. It’s probably one of the most exciting five minutes of your life, that (late-game) situation.
“We’re just happy for guys to experience it. Obviously, you want to win. But you can take a lot away from how we responded.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com