Trick play helps Grizzlies edge Livingston

The Mariposa High football team flipped deep in its playbook to pull out a trick play against Livingston on Friday night.

The Grizzlies pulled off a double pass for the deciding touchdown in a 13-9 win over the Wolves at the Mariposa County Fairgrounds.

Mariposa quarterback Jake Mayberry threw a pass to Jake Williams behind the line of scrimmage. Williams then fired a pass to wide receiver Zack Smith for a 25-yard touchdown in the second quarter that gave Mariposa (1-1) a 13-6 lead.

“We’ve had that play in for a while,” said Mariposa coach Ryan Oliphant. “We thought we could get the ball to Jake in time. Zack had been double-teamed all night so we were trying to do something to get him open. (Livingston) still covered him pretty well, he just went up and he was able to pull it down.”

The defenses took over in the second half as neither team scored after Livingston’s Angel Ramirez hit a 34-yard field goal to pull the Wolves (1-3) within 13-9 on the final play of the first half.

“Mariposa did a good job of shutting us down,” said Livingston coach Alex Gonzalez. “I think we lost three or four fumbles. Our defense played great too.”

Mariposa running back Josh Land gave the Grizzlies the early lead with a 52-yard touchdown run in the first quarter.

Livingston answered with a long touchdown as Eduardo Mendoza hooked up with Preston Albores for a 70-yard touchdown pass that cut the lead to 7-6.

The Grizzlies’ defense, which gave up 70 points in the season opening-loss to Summerville on Sept. 3, didn’t give up much after that.

“Our defense came up huge,” Oliphant said. “Obviously we were disappointed in Week 1. We challenged our defense to get better, to play Grizzly football. They were able to get stop after stop and they were able to get some turnovers. Our linebackers, Jake Williams and Jacob Baca, were great tonight.”

Chowchilla 27, Central Valley Christian 6 in Chowchilla – The Redskins (3-1) outscored the Cavaliers (3-1) 21-0 in the second half behind their strong rushing attack.

Alex Gutierrez finished with 131 yards on 10 carries and scored on a 20-yard pass from Ryan Selby to give the Redskins a 14-6 lead in the third quarter.

Anthony Stewart scored his second touchdown of the game on a nine-yard run in the fourth quarter, and Selby added a 21-yard touchdown run to put the game away. Stewart finished with 80 yards on 10 carries.

“I think we got our wakeup call last week,” said Chowchilla coach Alex Pittz about the Redskins’ 17-8 loss to Immanuel. “I thought we played a complete game and we were definitely better in the second half. We possessed the ball better in the second half with a couple long drives that ate the time up.”

Hilmar 47, Brookside Christian 12 in Stockton – The Yellowjackets (2-2) scored the first 33 points of the game as Alex Chavez reeled in two touchdown passes from Daniel Texeira.

Chavez scored on passes of 33 and three yards. Nick Olivera added a 55-yard scoring run, and Brandon Almeida returned a fumble 24 yards for a touchdown.

Stone Ridge Christian 54, Woodland Christian 0 in Atwater – The Knights racked up 600 yards on the ground, and the defense recorded its second straight shutout as Stone Ridge Christian improved to 3-1.

Fullback Austin Rees led the way with touchdown runs of four, 41 and 70 yards. He finished with 181 yards on just 10 carries. Shane Cassillas added a pair of touchdown runs (five and 38 yards, respectively) and totaled 112 rushing yards on just six carries.

Jonathan Collazo also topped the century mark with 163 yards on eight carries, including a 22-yard touchdown run.

Meanwhile, the Knights’ defense held Woodland Christian (2-1) to just three first downs.

Gustine 34, King City 13 at Gustine – Sebastain Figueroa ran for two touchdowns and threw for two scores as the Redskins improved to 3-0.

Figueroa rushed for 146 yards as Gustine totaled 304 yards on the ground.

Fresno 37, El Capitan 20 in Fresno – The Warriors outscored the Gauchos (1-3) 17-0 in the second half to pull away.

Joshua Stewart and Chase Whitaker each ran for touchdowns for El Capitan, and Joseph Lema added field goals of 35 and 28 yards.

Delhi 38, Big Valley Christian 6 in Delhi – The Hawks continue to roll as they improve to 3-0. Delhi has outscored its first three opponents 142-35. Delhi starts Southern League play next week at home against Denair.

This story was originally published September 19, 2015 at 1:00 AM with the headline "Trick play helps Grizzlies edge Livingston."