SANTA CLARA – There was no panic on the Los Gatos sideline Friday night.
Down four points. Two minutes and change on the clock. Nearly 80 yards from the end zone.
It was set up for a dramatic finish, one way or the other, and Los Gatos made sure it was the one celebrating when time ran out in its annual clash against rival Wilcox.
The Wildcats needed eight plays to drive 79 yards, the final seven on a run across the goal line by running back Boxer Kopcsak-Yeung behind a convoy of blockers with 23.5 seconds left.
When Jaylen Thomas intercepted a desperation pass on the last snap of the game, Los Gatos celebrated a 24-21 victory that clinched at least a share of the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division championship for the Wildcats.
“It means so much,” quarterback AJ Minyard said amid the celebration. “We’ve been looking forward to this game for a long time. We always see this one on the calendar and are like, ‘This is the one. This is the one’ Now we’re one step closer to league champs.”
Los Gatos (7-2, 4-0) can win the title outright with a victory next week against Menlo-Atherton. If M-A pulls off the upset, Los Gatos and Wilcox (6-3, 4-1) share the title.
Wilcox was in position to have the championship to itself when Jamontay Amataga scored on a 2-yard run with 2:27 left to give the Chargers a 21-17 lead.
But Los Gatos coach Mark Krail had his team ready to respond, noting that every Wednesday night the Wildcats work diligently on their two-minute offense.
The practice helped Los Gatos score late to beat Liberty last month and it helped again Friday.
“The guys are comfortable,” Krail said. “I told them, ‘Let’s go 80 yards and win a game.’ That’s our mentality.”
Minyard said he was only thinking about one thing as he stepped onto the field for the final series: Lead his team.
“I’ve got to trust my offense, I’ve got to trust my coaches, I’ve got to trust my line, I’ve got to trust Boxer to run as hard as he can, I’ve got to trust my receivers that they’ve got to do whatever they can to get open,” Minyard said. “It’s a team battle at that point.”
Minyard connected on pass plays of 16 and 11 yards to start the drive. Then Kopcsak-Yeung ran 28 yards through the middle of the field to move Los Gatos to the 24.
When it came down to fourth-and-2 at the 16 with 51 seconds left, Krail called a naked bootleg for Minyard. The play worked as designed, with Minyard rolling to his left and finding enough daylight to gain nine yards to the 7.
“I went headfirst,” Minyard said. “I was trying to go as far as I can.”
On the next snap, Kopcsak-Yeung followed his blockers into the end zone to give Los Gatos the victory. The running back carried 15 times for 119 yards.
“My belief in my teammates, my belief in my defense, my belief in my coaches never wavered,” Kopcsak-Yeung said. “I never thought we were out of this for a second.”
Los Gatos took charge in the first quarter as Justin Mazzaferro scored on a 4-yard run to make it 7-0 and Owen Panu blocked a punt that Kopcsak-Yeung returned 10 yards for a touchdown to widen the margin to 14-0.
But Wilcox roared back in the second quarter.
The Chargers drove 80 yards in 11 plays to cut the deficit in half. Elijah Walker’s 13-yard run through the middle accounted for the touchdown.
Wilcox finished the half with an ever longer series, going 97 yards in 16 plays to even the score 14-14. Tyson Bonilla’s 3-yard TD pass to Will Ruff completed the drive with 20.2 seconds on the clock.
The home team had three chances to break the tie in the third quarter, but Los Gatos twice held on downs and also recovered a fumble at the 10.
“The team that makes the least amount of mistakes usually wins,” Wilcox coach Paul Rosa said. “That’s what happened. We made a couple of more mistakes than they did. I am proud of our guys. They played hard. It’s just that’s a tough loss.”
Source: www.mercurynews.com