LOS BANOS -- When Shane Lambert hit Carlos Maldonado in stride for an 81-yard touchdown on a reverse halfback pass less than a minute into Friday's game against Los Banos, the game looked like a foregone conclusion.
But that confidence was long gone by the end of a 35-21 Los Banos win.
"It's kind of hard to think about the first play of the game right now," Atwater coach Bob Valladao said. "(We made) too many mistakes."
Los Banos Enterprise - Photo by DAVID WITTE/LOS BANOS ENTERPRISE
Los Banos running back James Sams looks for a crease against Atwater on Friday night in Los Banos.
Enterprise - Photo by DAVID WITTE/LOS BANOS ENTERPRISE
Atwater's Jermey West sacks Los Banos quarterback Chris Corpuz in the first quarter of their game Friday in Los Banos.
A connection between a pair of juniors led Los Banos down the field several times, with quarterback Chris Corpuz and receiver Keith Turner hooking up on touchdown passes of 20, 43 and 27 yards.
"I know he'll go up and get the ball, even though he's small," Corpuz said of the chemistry fostered through freshman and junior varsity football.
"This is big," added Turner. "It builds the momentum against a division I team."
Corpus spent a fair amount of time avoiding aggressive blitz packages Atwater sent after him.
"It doesn't feel good," left tackle Bryce Howard said. "I think we got the ball off, and I turn around and he's lying on the ground. It was like, 'Where are these guys coming from?' "
The teams went to halftime tied 14-14 after Dallas Hoofard added an 80-yard touchdown run in the second quarter to two of the Corpuz-Turner connections.
A Tramane Moore interception, his second of the game, set up the first score of the second half, a two-yard James Sams dive for LB.
"It wasn't pretty," Los Banos coach Dennis Stubbs said. "We expected to play better, but we're having a hard time starting games, where we're giving up big plays. We've got to fix it and find out what the problem is, why we're not ready."
Moore and his brother Delvonte put the game out of reach early in the fourth when they combined on a blocked punt at about the 2-yard line. Tramane recovered the ball in the end zone.
LB gave up one more big play, a 58-yard pass from Andrew Avila to Maldonado. But the Tigers added insult to injury with a final Corpuz-to-Turner touchdown with 7.6 seconds remaining.
"A lot of times teams can just fold," Stubbs said. "I'm taking the positive that we bounced back. We bounced back from every big play they had, and that's a good sign. But you can't do that all the time."
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