LOS GATOS – After a one-year absence because of COVID, the 47th rendition of the Charlie Wedemeyer Santa Clara County all-star high school football game revived Saturday night.
It didn’t disappoint.
In front of a packed house at Los Gatos High, where Wedemeyer continued to coach for years even after he was diagnosed with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) in 1977, a hard-fought battle saw the North prevail over the South 15-14 with 3.1 seconds left.
The South, which still holds a series edge of 24-19-4 in the exhibition of graduating Santa Clara County seniors, attempted a 42-yard field goal for the victory, only for the kick to fall excruciatingly short from splitting the uprights.
Both teams stormed the field, and instead of the North being forced to take a knee amid pandemonium during the pandemic, an audible by the referees ended the contest with time still left on the scoreboard.
Here are five takeaways from the game, named in honor of the coach who died in 2010:
COMING FULL CIRCLE
It took three tries to douse North coach Shelley Smith with a water bucket.
The players were determined.
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Smith, who recently retired as athletic director and head coach at Mountain View after nine years, steps away from the sidelines as a winner.
His connection to the Wedemeyer Classic extends not only to Charlie but his older brother Herman – a halfback at St. Mary’s College in Moraga who was elected into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1979.
After graduating from Saratoga in 1975, Smith played football at St. Mary’s as an offensive lineman.
His coaching career began as an assistant at his alma mater, where he crossed paths with the youngest sibling in the Wedemeyer clan.
“It’s amazing how this all came full circle for me,” Smith said. “Charlie and (his wife) Lucy used to after every game have both teams come over and he would give us words of encouragement. So I started my coaching career with Charlie and it had influence over a lot of stuff that we tried to do – and then we end it here.
“So it’s quite something.”
RIGHT QB FOR THE JOB
If Smith could entrust anyone to get the job done, it was Mountain View quarterback Jackson Steffen.
His pupil orchestrated touchdown drives on the opening and closing possessions for the North, thereby securing a proper walk into the sunset – err, moonlight.
“That was a great feeling,” Steffen said. “It was stressful at the end, but I’m glad we got the win for him.”
On the third play from scrimmage, Steffen improvised by stepping up in the pocket and heaved a deep throw to Luther K. Glenn, the Bay Area News Group co-offensive player of the year.
“He was supposed to run a wheel up the sideline and I had to scramble,” Steffen said. “I just saw him cutting across the field and I knew he was fast, so I threw it down to him. He made a play.”
The result was a stunning 66-yard touchdown.
“I was thinking he wasn’t going to throw to me,” Glenn said. “I was looking at him and we made eye contact.”
The North rotated a trio of quarterbacks, so Steffen didn’t spend a lot of time on the field. His timely return came during a 10-play, 58-yard drive during which Steffen converted a fourth down on a 1-yard sneak, then scored the winning TD on a designed 11-yard keeper.
“It was a great play-call by coach,” said Steffen, who finished 4-of-6 for 109 yards.
DEFENSE AND SPECIAL TEAMS
The only turnover was an interception by South defensive back Thomas Di Vittorio out of Bellarmine in what turned out to be essentially a punt on third-and-long from midfield.
Besides the TD drives engineered by Steffen, the North only managed 81 yards on its six other possessions.
But one of the booming punts by Santa Clara senior Dino Beslagic – a sneaky MVP candidate – pinned the South at its own 1-yard line after Camilo Arquette hustled to the bouncing ball.
Two snaps later, Arquette – a St. Francis standout bound for Northern Arizona – split the offensive line to record a safety with 1:31 left in the first half.
“I saw the guard block down and the center, he kind of went the other way,” said Arquette, who also racked up a sack, “so I went, ‘Alright, I’m going to fill that gap right now.’ And I got there.”
He added: “Both sides of the ball have got great athletes, so it was a test of toughness.”
Arquette was one of four Lancers on the field, along with San Jose State-bound Denaris DeRosa, Michigan commit Nicolas Andrighetto and outside linebacker Esaia Vavao.
“I’m just happy that we ended with a W,” said Arquette, whose undefeated regular season included a thriller against De La Salle, but concluded with a 16-12 setback to West Catholic Athletic League rival Serra in the Central Coast Section Division I title game. “CCS finals, that was a tough loss, and I’m just happy to finish my high school career with a win.”
TOUCHDOWN MACHINE
Both times the South found its way into the red zone, the obvious target was 6-foot-2 wide receiver Kai Matthews out of Santa Teresa.
After falling behind 7-0, quarterback Spencer Gorgulho (Christopher) put together an 11-play, 80-yard drive that culminated with a 9-yard fade to Matthews.
On the opening possession of the second half, South QB Anthony Martinez (Andrew Hill) sprinted 52 yards on a read-option. On third down, he flipped an 11-yard fade to Matthews to go up 14-9 less than two minutes after intermission.
“I felt prepared today,” Matthews said. “I even told coach, ‘I’m nervous, but if you’re not nervous, you’re not ready.’ And I was definitely ready today.”
EXTRACURRICULARS
Of note, at halftime North running back Jakerion Thurman (Del Mar) earned the “Never Give Up” award.
Meanwhile, South running back Nate Williams (Live Oak) was honored with the “Dwight Clark” award.
Kiko Alonso, a former Los Gatos linebacker selected in the second round by the Buffalo Bills in the 2013 NFL Draft out of Oregon and went on to play seven seasons in the pros, spoke at the player’s banquet on Thursday.
McClymonds coach Michael Peters was named Charlier Wedemeyer Memorial Coach of the Year and NFL Don Shula Coach of the Year.
Wedemeyer Classic: North 15, South 14
Source: www.mercurynews.com