tool name

Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009

Shock and awe at Santa Fe Bowl XL: Atwater wins thriller with last-second touchdown

Santa Fe Bowl XL became an instant classic.

It's certainly a game Steven Odom will never forget.

The senior hauled in a 41-yard touchdown pass from Nathan Sanchez with 5 seconds left to help Atwater pull off a miracle 21-20 win over Merced on Friday night at Stadium '76.

"It's a play we've run all week in practice," said Odom of the wheel route he ran down the right sideline. "We ran it three times this week and all three times I scored a touchdown. One of our players called the play and I got wide open."

Atwater's win creates a logjam atop the Central California Conference with Atwater, Merced and Los Banos all tied at 3-1.

Atwater's chances of pulling out a victory didn't look very promising after Merced had scored on a big play of its own.

Merced took a 20-14 lead when quarterback Rudy Monteon hooked up with Juan Valenica for a 30-yard touchdown pass on a fourth down play.

A bad snap on the extra-point attempt kept the lead at six points with 1:37 left in the game.

"We had to keep our heads up," Sanchez said. "We hadn't lost anything yet. The only thing we could do was march down the field."

Atwater did just that.

Sanchez led Atwater's two-minute offense perfectly.

"We work on it every week in practice," Atwater coach Bob Valladao said. "It works pretty good when we go against air."

A big fourth-down run by Brian Sevilla and another clutch screen pass to Angel Molina helped Atwater keep the drive alive.

Junior receiver Michael Gutierrez then suggested to Valladao that they try the wheel route to Odom.

"Once the ball was in the air, everything slowed down and I just focused on catching it," Odom said. "Once I caught it, I thanked God and focused on scoring."

Valladao told his players after the game it was the best game he's ever been apart of.

"It has to rank up pretty high in Santa Fe Bowls," Sanchez said.

The win snapped Merced's CCC winning streak at 21.

It was a game Merced let get away after jumping out to a 14-0 lead after two second-quarter touchdown runs by Eric DeAnda, who finished with 114 yards on 32 carries.

Merced had three second-half touchdowns called back.

Jaquari People returned his second interception of the game 63 yards, including a flip into the end zone only to have the score negated by a block in the back.

People again brought the Merced crowd to their feet early in the fourth quarter when he scooped up a fumble and ran 80 yards for another apparent score.

However, the referees blew an inadvertent whistle to blow the play dead.

Merced had to settle for the ball back at its own 36-yard line.

"I do appreciate the official explaining to me what happened," said Merced coach Rob Scheidt, whose team dropped to 3-5 overall.

"There was an inadvertent whistle. He said they messed up. Who knows what would have happened. There was still a lot of time left when that happened."

Scheidt's boys still looked like they were going to keep their streak alive.

"We had them in situations during that last drive where I felt pretty good," Scheidt said. "You have to make a play.

"Nathan has been doing that all year for them and he did it again tonight."

Central California Conference

ATWATER 21, MERCED 20

At Stadium '76 (Merced College)

Atwater 0 7 7 7 -- 21

Merced 0 14 0 6 -- 20

Second Quarter

M -- Eric DeAnda 4 run (Jose Mena kick)

M -- DeAnda 15 run (Mena kick)

A -- Nathan Sanchez 1 run (John Guerrero kick)

Third Quarter

A -- Angel Molina 2 run (Guerrero kick)

Fourth Quarter

M -- Juan Valencia 30 pass from Rudy Monteon (run failed)

A -- Steve Odom 41 pass from Sanchez (Guerrero kick)

Records: Atwater 4-1 CCC, 6-2 overall; Merced 3-1, 3-5.

JV -- Merced won 25-21.