RIPON -- Livingston High senior running back Diego Iniguez-Casian was on the sidelines in the second quarter, doing what he could to fire up his teammates.
After one of the Wolves was tackled short of a first down, Iniguez-Casian yelled "Wait until I get in there ... I'll show 'em how to run."
His teammates smiled.
But he did get a chance, and it came on the final play of the third quarter, when Iniguez-Casian turned a simple run off the right side into a game-winner, breaking four Ripon tackles on a 29-yard scoring run that provided the difference in the Wolves' 12-10 victory over the host Indians.
"I saw the hole and got a good block from Adrian (Muniz) at tight end ... nah, I didn't do anything," Iniguez-Casian said. "It was all my line. I'm just thinking we had to get this ... we had to get the lead.
"I just got the great blocks and it was easy from there."
Livingston (6-5) advanced to the second round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division 4 playoffs for the second straight season. Last year, the Wolves opened the second season by defeating Vista Del Lago 24-21 in overtime, also on the road.
Ripon (8-3) was looking for its first win in the post season since 1997.
"We couldn't finish," said Ripon coach Chris Johnson. "We played a lot of the game on their end of the field, but for some reason they outplayed us tonight."
Livingston, which will make the six-mile trek to Hilmar next Friday, outgained Ripon 296-187, with 274 of the yards coming on the ground.
Josh McCreath led all rushers with 116 yards in 25 carries for the Indians, including a 5-yard run for a 7-0 second-quarter lead. Livingston answered when quarterback Gabriel Deol broke a 62-yard run off a belly-option fake, but the Wolves -- with no kicker -- failed on a two-point conversion try.
Ripon kicker Mauricio Aguirre, a freshman who only recently turned 15, hit the Indians' conversion and also connected on a 25-yard field goal that gave Ripon a 10-6 lead with 4 minutes, 58 seconds left in the third quarter. Livingston answered with the game-winning drive.
Ripon had a chance to retake the lead, moving from midfield after a short punt to the Livingston 18 with 3:05 left. When the drive stalled there, Johnson called on Aguirre on fourth-and-four to try a 35-yard field goal into the south wind, and it came up short.
"He's a good kicker and a really good kid," Johnson said. "It was tough to put him in that situation and I'll be second-guessing myself on that for a long time."
Livingston ran out the clock from there with seven straight running plays.
"Coach Johnson is such a class act with everything he does, and that was a tough, tough team," said Livingston coach Chris Lacey. "But any time you can beat a TVL team on the road, that counts as a good, good win."
E-Mail
Print
