Sat 8 Nov 2008
By Rick Martin
It was a tale of two halves Friday night at
The end result? A 34-26 Trinity win that likely cost the Bears (4-6, 3-3 SVL) any chance of hosting a CIF Northern Section playoff game.
After the Bears jumped out to a 20-6 lead at halftime, the Wolves (3-7, 3-3 SVL) figured out their offense and scored 20 unanswered points in the first 15 minutes of the second half to take the lead. After the host Bears tied it, the Wolves would drive the length of the field and tally the game winner with less than a minute to play, leaving the Bears no time to respond.
Things started quickly for the Bears as they took the opening kickoff and marched 65 yards for a score. Miguel Rodriguez converted a critical 4th and 3 to keep the drive alive, and Steven Reed capped it with a QB keeper from 15 yards out to give the Bears a 6-0 lead after the failed extra point.
The Bears stopped the Wolves on their first possession and then began another march downfield, only to turn the ball over on downs inside the Wolves’ 30-yard-line. It was one of several costly missed chances for
They would score on their next series in the 2nd period, as Reed took it in again from 4 yards out, but they again misfired on the two-point conversion, leaving it a 12-0 game.
It was at that point that the Wolves made a big offensive change. Switching from a pass-heavy offense, the Wolves’ offensive line was given a chance to shine, and they took control of the game up front. The immediate payoff was a crisp 55-yard drive, capped by a Jacob Fiermonte 2-yard run that made it 12-6 with
But the Bears weren’t quite finished, using up large chunks of the clock to drive to the Trinity 20 with 27 seconds remaining. After a timeout, Reed found a wide open Alan Evans on a crossing pattern at the goal line for the TD, and then hit him again for a two-point conversion to push the lead to 20-6 at intermission.
But the second half told a different story. Setting the tone for a mistake-filled half,
Taking possession at their own 30 after the kick, the Wolves went back to the running formula that had worked on their final drive of the half, and took the opening kickoff downfield for a score. Daniel Bradford went outside for the 24-yard TD to make it 20-12. The Bears did nothing on their first drive, and the Wolves took the ball right back, and began marching downfield. But a penalty pushed them back, and they ended up giving the ball back to the Bears on downs.
That started a critical series, with
With the defense keyed to stop the run, the Wolves went back to the air, and QB Dane Hagen threw a beautiful deep ball down the left side to Kurtis Cartwright. The receiver caught the ball in stride and then broke free of the defender, racing in for a 73-yard score to make it 20-18.
The Bears thought they caught lightning on the ensuing kickoff, as Royce Autry raced 80-yards for an apparent score. But a penalty brought the ball back, and the Bears were forced to start a drive from their own 14-yard-line. The drive was a good one, with Mark Maumasi eventually bulling his way in from 25-yards away to tie the game at 26, but Mt. Shasta had used up 3:30 on the clock to get there—time they could have used, as it turned out.
Trinity went back to work after the Bear score, slowly but methodically marching downfield and into Bear territory. The Bears couldn’t stop them, and Trinity knew it. With a 3-7 record, they were pretty sure there would be no playoff berth. This was their moment, their time to write a happy ending to the season. They ran inside, they ran outside, they milked the clock down. Then, calling time out with 30 seconds remaining, they finished it, as
Despite the loss, The Bears finished the season ranked sixth in playoff points in NSCIF D-III. The seeding committee then moved the Bears to the five-seed, by virtue of their win earlier this season over fifth ranked Live Oak.
