Vanden blitzes Merced in second half to pull away and deny Bears a section crown
Merced High quarterback Seth Scheidt had to pick himself off the turf after almost every throw in the second half of Saturday’s Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV championship game against Vanden.
Vikings linebackers Devin Martin and Erick A. Diez took turns blitzing up the middle on just about every play. Sometimes they both blitzed as they battered Scheidt over and over again.
The constant pressure disrupted the Bears’ offense as Vanden held Merced scoreless in the final two quarters to run away with a 49-21 victory to win its first section championship since 1995 at St. Mary’s High School.
“They kind of started blitzing and we didn’t have an answer for it,” Scheidt said. “Maybe if we had an answer it would have been a different story.”
The No. 4 seeded Bears also didn’t have an answer for Vanden senior Jamai East.
East’s impact on the game was felt on both sides of the ball as he caught three touchdowns and intercepted two passes, returning his first interception 20 yards for a score that gave No. 2 Vanden (11-2) a 42-21 lead that helped put the game away with 11 minutes, 48 seconds left in the fourth quarter.
“That’s where I probably did some underestimating because we were more worried about (Michael Belk), (Amarion York) and (Brayden Chavez) at receiver and (East) had a phenomenal game,” said Merced coach Rob Scheidt. “He really set the tone on defense for them and caused us some problems.”
The game couldn’t have started worse for Merced as Vanden’s Robert Breed scored on a pick-six on the first play of the game when he intercepted a Seth Scheidt pass and returned 32 yards for a touchdown to give the Vikings a 7-0 lead with 11:38 left.
The Bears were looking at an early 14-0 deficit after running back Sean Davis scored on an 8-yard run on the Vikings’ second possession to give Vanden a 14-0 lead with 6:07 remaining.
Merced battled out of the early hole to tie the game at 21-21 at the half. Enoch Evans started the Bears’ scoring with a 33-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter that cut the deficit to 14-7.
Seth Scheidt then connected on two crucial fourth down passes for touchdowns of 32 and 43 yards to junior receiver Jack Collins that tied the game at 14-14 and later 21-21.
“I want to say those are more Jack than me,” Seth Scheidt said. “The first one I tried to back shoulder him and he caught it somehow in front and the second one he almost ripped it out of the guy’s hands. He made the plays on those.”
Merced couldn’t get anything going offensively in the second half.
“We had some things dialed up, but (Vanden) just said, ‘We’re going to blitz you and go cover zero,’” Rob Scheidt said. “They’ve got a lot of guys and we couldn’t get loose at any spot.”
Merced also lost some key players to injury in the second half with right guard Jalonn Booth and running back Chase Smith both leaving the game. Collins also was banged up and in and out of the game.
“We were always an injury away throughout the year,” Rob Scheidt said. “We were just very blessed that we didn’t have too many of them that were detrimental like that.”
Meanwhile, Vanden kept coming up with big plays through the air as quarterback Trey Dimes passed for 301 yards and four touchdowns.
“They were making great plays in the first half and we told our guys to just keep pressuring them, keep playing hard,” said Vanden coach Sean Murphy. “We didn’t make a ton of adjustments, we made a couple little, tiny adjustments, but we felt like if we kept playing, it would go our way defensively. And it did.”
Dimes found East for touchdowns of 8 and 9 yards and later connected with Davis on a 52-yard touchdown pass as the Vikings pulled away from Merced in the second half.
It was Merced’s first championship game appearance since losing 37-36 to Vacaville in 2006.
“We’re resilient so we had a lot of good wins, a lot of comeback wins,” Seth Scheidt said. “Unfortunately we didn’t do that today, but I’m blessed, I’m happy for the season we had.”
After 26 years as the Bears coach, Rob Scheidt said he’s not done yet, but it’ll be tough after coaching his son at quarterback the past three seasons.
“It’s going to be a little different not having No. 5 back there,” Rob Scheidt said. “My experience with him as the dad first and foremost, I couldn’t be prouder of him. This wasn’t his best day but he’s a warrior. Better than that, he’s a great kid.”
Rob Scheidt said the goal is to work their way back to the finals again.
“We hope to get back to this point,” he said. “That’s the goal. We’d really love to win a section title, everybody does. The Escalons, Hilmars, the Oakdales, Mantecas, Central Catholics, they all make it look so easy, but it’s really, really hard.
“Ask Vanden, 1995 was their last one,” he added. “Give them all the credit. It’s a hard, hard journey, but a really fun one.”
This story was originally published November 27, 2021 at 7:01 PM.
