Chowchilla wins on improbable final play

Damon Perry said he had no idea who was around him.

With time expired and Chowchilla High School down by four, the junior running back was going to do whatever he had to in order to extend the final play. As fate would have it, Ronnie Reyes just happened to be in Perry’s line of sight as he was hit at the Golden West 6-yard line.

Perry lateraled to Reyes, who fought through two would-be tacklers at the 5 and dragged a defender holding onto the back of his jersey e yards before diving across the goal line for an improbable 26-24 victory over the Trailblazers in the Central Section Division IV semifinals Friday night.

Chowchilla will attempt to defend its title this Friday when it takes on top-seeded Selma (12-0), which defeated Chavez of Delano 35-3 in the other semifinal.

“I really wasn’t expecting the ball,” said Reyes, who scored all three of the Redskins’ touchdowns. “I saw Damon coming across and I was looking to block. I saw him flip it to me and I ran up field. There was a guy right in front of me that I ran through. As soon as I got past him, I knew I could dive for the line.

“When the ball crossed and I hit the ground, it felt good.”

It may go down as the greatest game ever played at Groppetti Community Stadium, as Golden West erased a 10-point deficit with under 2 minutes and 30 seconds to play.

The Chowchilla defense stifled the Trailblazers’ vaunted Wing-T attack for the entire evening, allowing just two runs of 10 or more yards. But it was the Golden West (10-2) passing game that got it back into the contest.

Payton Allen (7 of 17 passing for 138 yards) found Christian Ortiz on a 5-yard touchdown pass to trim the Redskins’ (10-1) lead to 20-17 with 2:21 to play. With one timeout remaining, Golden West went for and recovered an onside kick.

Chowchilla looked poised to finish things off when Allen feathered a pass just over the outstretched fingertips of Carlos Iniguez on fourth and 5. Robert Ortega made the catch and sprinted 44 yards to put the Trailblazers up for the first time with 1:11 to play.

“To have Bernardo (Bustillos) go down and then give up that touchdown on fourth down was two pretty huge back-to-back blows,” Chowchilla coach Alex Pittz said. “It speaks to the resolve of this team. There was no quit. They didn’t put their heads down. They just went back out and found a way to win the game.”

With 1:11 left and one timeout, the Redskins marched 80 yards in 13 plays.

Moayad Dahabra delivered the first big play, snagging a 33-yard catch in traffic to move Chowchilla into Golden West territory. The drive was extended four plays later when Asa Shields (12 carries, game-high 118 yards) drew a pass-interference call on fourth down to move the ball to the 32.

Reyes (14 carries, 68 yards) broke an 11-yard run, and Cody Woolsey took off for 7 yards to put Chowchilla at the Golden West 14 with 20 seconds to play.

While the final play went down as the game’s best, the one that set it up was almost as huge. The pocket broke down on Woolsey as he searched for a passing option, and a sack would have ended the game with under 10 seconds to play. The sophomore flicked a desperation shovel pass to Reyes on the sideline, who managed to get out of bounds and pick up the first down at the Trailblazer 6 with 6 seconds left.

As it turns out, Chowchilla needed that extra play. Woolsey was almost picked off trying to hit Justin Cantrell with a lob in the corner of the end zone, leaving the Redskins one final play with 1 second left.

Pittz said the call was to roll Woolsey and sneak the tight end against the grain for a backdoor throw. Golden West blew up that plan immediately with penetration and Woolsey had to improvise. Feeling the heat, he finally dumped off a pass to Perry at the 10. The running back side-stepped a couple of defenders and suddenly had blockers in front of him. He ran into a wave of defenders at the 6, and leaping, lateraled to what he hoped was a teammate.

“The coaches told us when we got to the sideline that it was over and we just had to keep our heads up,” Perry said. “We aren’t a passing team, but we made some huge plays when we had to. You knew we weren’t going down without a fight.

“I had no idea Ronnie was there. I was going to lateral no matter what just to keep the play going. I’m glad it was him. If anyone was going to fight his way into the end zone there, it was Ronnie."’

This story was originally published November 26, 2016 at 1:48 AM with the headline "Chowchilla wins on improbable final play."