Tehachapi at Foothill (Bakersfield)
Friday, September 24, 2004
Playing in his first varsity game of the season, exchange student Stephan
Wolf, #16, kicked a field goal in the fourth quarter. Photo by Michael Duffy, The Tehachapi News
Late TD Gives Foothill Stunning Victory
Trojans Score In Final 28 Seconds
Posted By Ryan Schuster, The Bakersfield Californian on September 25, 2004
BAKERSFIELD - Matthew Peralta only had three carries for nine yards in Foothill High's 20-17 football victory over Tehachapi Friday night. But one of those carries was a 5-yard touchdown run on a sweep to the right with 28 seconds remaining to help Foothill earn the non-league home win. His third and final carry followed three consecutive pass attempts and came with the Trojans out of timeouts.
"We had to do something," Peralta said. "I wanted the ball. My team gave it to me. I had to do something with it."
Foothill's Matt Alvarez had a diving catch of a Tanner Wilson 10-yard pass two plays earlier to set the Trojans (1-2) up with first-and-goal. Wilson's across-his-body pass on first down to Mario Bucio fell incomplete in the end zone a play before Peralta's game-winning score.
Alvarez also added the extra point.
Foothill drove from its own 27-yard line in the game's final three and a half minutes, helped by several big runs by Jeremy Hernandez.
"They did a great job moving the ball down the field on that drive and punching it in," Tehachapi coach Steve Denman said. "They just outplayed us. They played a lot tougher mentally and physically."
Tehachapi (1-2) took a 17-13 lead on a 1-yard TD plunge up the middle on a power run by Sean Finley and Finley's two-point conversion run with 3:54 to play.
"I was thinking all we had to do was stop them," Finley said. "We couldn't do it. We had guys doing their all. We just couldn't get it done."
Finley rushed for a game-high 131 yards on 27 carries. Teammate Dan Haycock added 97 yards on 9 carries.
Eric Velez rushed for 108 yards and a touchdown on 25 carries for Foothill. Teammate Hernandez had 91 rushing yards on 17 carries.
Tehachapi's Jason Pezzillo made a 24-yard field goal on the third play of the fourth quarter to pull the Warriors within 13-9 after the 73-yard drive stalled at the Foothill 7-yard line.
Velez slashed into the end zone on a 3-yard TD run on third and goal to put Foothill on top 13-6 after an Alvarez extra point with three and a half minutes left in the third quarter.
The Trojans' 14-play, 80-yard drive answered right back after Tehachapi scored a TD on the first drive of the second half.
Finley returned the second half kickoff 78 yards for Tehachapi and scored four plays later on a 6-yard TD run. Finley had all four carries on the Warriors' 22-yard drive, which tied the score at 6 after a failed conversion play.
Foothill was outgained 105 yards to 85 in the first half, but led 6-0 at halftime.
Bucio raced 15 yards for a TD on a reverse to the left corner of the end zone to give Foothill a 6-0 lead after a missed extra point by Alvarez with four minutes left in the first half.
Bucio's run put a cap on a nine-play, 66-yard drive that netted the Trojans four first downs. Foothill's only other two first downs in the first half came by penalty when Tehachapi players ran into punter Alvarez.
1st 2nd 3rd 4th Final Tehachapi 0 0 6 11 17 Foothill 0 6 7 7 20
The Scoring:
FOOTHILL vs TEHACHAPI GAME STATS
THS Foot First Downs 0 0 Rushes-Yards 43-250 00-000 Passing Yards 00 006 Comp-Att-Int 2-10-0 0-0-0 Total Yards 000 000 Punts 0-00.0 0-00.0 Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0 Penalties 0-00 0-00
Individual Statistics:
Varsity Records -- Foothill 1-2, Tehachapi 1-2.
JV -- Tehachapi 00, Foothill 00.
Frosh -- Tehachapi 0, Foothill 0
