Merced College football rally falls short at West Hills

Bob Casey gathered his team at halftime Saturday and asked the players to give all they had in the second half, regardless of the outcome.

The simple request almost sparked the greatest comeback in Merced College football history.

The Blue Devils trailed by 31 midway through the third quarter but rallied to within three behind an opportunistic defense and a gutty performance by quarterback Juwan Brown. But as tends to be the case when digging such a hole, the only way out is to play flawlessly.

Merced couldn’t quite do it, turning over the ball twice in the last three minutes to fall to West Hills 38-35. It was the Blue Devils’ fifth loss by seven points or fewer.

The win secured West Hills (9-0, 5-0 Golden Coast Conference) a share of the GCC title and denied the Blue Devils a winning record for the 17th consecutive season. Merced (4-5, 3-2) can still finish at .500 for the first time since 2003 with a win over Cabrillo (2-7, 1-4) in its season finale Saturday.

“We gave them a lot of points early – the safety, a punt return and then they catch a break with the tipped pass,” Casey said. “Unfortunately, those small things tend to get magnified when you’re trying to come back.

“I’m proud of the guys’ effort. We gave ourselves a chance; we just couldn’t quite finish it off.”

The game looked all but wrapped up after Anthony Mahoungou caught a 26-yard touchdown pass with 8:42 to play in the third quarter, pushing West Hills’ lead to 38-7.

After almost three quarters of offensive frustration, something finally clicked for the Blue Devils. Offensive coordinator Damon Nails switched to a quick passing game to try and negate West Hills’ state-leading pass rush (55 sacks this season, including 12 against Merced), and Jacque Harris caught a 14-yard touchdown pass with 4:08 left in the third.

Dominic Dalmaso got Merced the ball back with one of his three interceptions on a career afternoon, and Josh Young cashed that in with a 19-yard catch and run on a deflected pass, trimming the deficit to 38-21 with 12:20 left in the fourth quarter.

Merced held the Falcons on a three-and-out, and Brown (24 for 43, 238 yards and four total TDs) led a 12-play drive that he capped with an 11-yard rushing score with 7:06 left.

West Hills botched the snap on its next play from scrimmage and end Justin Aguilar recovered, handing the ball right back to Merced at the Falcons’ 23-yard line. It was part of a dominating afternoon by the Merced line, which accounted for six sacks.

“I told the guys at halftime the final score wasn’t what mattered; going out (and) showing what our hearts were made of is what mattered,” Aguilar said. “We made a lot of mistakes in that game, but we never gave up. We never believed we were out of it, and we probably should have had it in the end.”

Josh Stevens, whose 50 rushing yards made him Merced’s first 1,000-yard back since Curtis Snowden in 1998, capitalized on the turnover with a 10-yard touchdown to make it 38-35 with 6:35 to play.

The Blue Devils’ defense twice provided the offense with a chance to at least tie the score, forcing a punt with just over three minutes to play and then a Dalmaso interception at midfield with two minutes left.

It wasn’t meant to be, however, as Reginal Harris lost his handle on the ball while fighting for extra yards and Brown was intercepted on fourth and 25.

“The defense played well all game, but we needed to be almost perfect in the second half,” Dalmaso said. “Those two third-quarter touchdowns we gave up were too much to overcome.

“I love this team. I love the fight we showed. It’s tough to just come up short like that, but we put ourselves in a bad spot.”

This story was originally published November 9, 2014 at 5:52 PM with the headline "Merced College football rally falls short at West Hills."