With cards stacked against them, Acorns move within a victory of
clinching playoff berth
MORGAN HILL — Adversity became the inspiration for Live Oak’s latest big win.
Julio Aguayo caught a pass for a touchdown and rushed for another, Blair Zerr carried 20 times for a career-high 159 yards, and the turnover-free Acorns overcame the loss of two more impact players this week to pummel the Leigh Longhorns 28-14 in Mount Hamilton Division play Friday.
After they lost quarterback Dylan Frechette to a separated shoulder and junior defensive back Rich Martinez to surgery that could end his athletic career, it was anyone’s guess how the Acorns would perform at Richert Field.
As if they haven’t faced enough challenges in 2009.
Wearing No. 4s on their jerseys and helmets to honor Martinez, who this week successfully had a sizable cyst removed from his brain, Live Oak added another chapter to its season of resiliency. Once 0-4, the Acorns are now one victory away from qualifying for the Central Coast Section playoffs.
“When men get knocked down, they have to get back up,” said Live Oak coach Jon Michael Porras, whose team was coming off a 9-7 shocker over Oak Grove. “Life’s full of challenges.”
So was Friday’s game. The Acorns (3-5 overall, 2-2 league) had two daunting tasks in slowing Leigh’s 205-pound powerback Brian Michaelis and 6-foot-2, 215-pound tight end Chris Beliveau. Michaelis covered 69 yards and a score in 13 carries and had nine catches for 119 yards, including a 10-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Nick De La Cruz with two seconds left in the first half. Beliveau had 92 yards receiving but no scores.
De La Cruz, a junior, completed 20 of 28 passes for 270 yards.
“We kept them from scoring more than two touchdowns, so I’d say the game plan worked out perfectly tonight,” Porras said.
Live Oak looked like it might be in for a long night after the Longhorns (3-5, 1-4) drove 64 yards in their first series. The Acorns snatched momentum for good, though, when linebackers Mark Weber and T.J. Ornduff sacked De La Cruz on consecutive plays near the LOHS 20-yard line. Ornduff jarred the ball loose on his front-side blitz, and Live Oak recovered at its own 33.
From there, the Acorns went on a six-play drive that ended with Aguayo’s game-breaking, 30-yard catch-and-run for a touchdown. The junior running back caught a short pass from backup quarterback Cody Van Aken, then crashed into defensive backs Larry Donald and Ryan Divicenzi at the Longhorns’ 20 — only to spin away and sprint into the end zone.
“We made some big plays tonight,” Zerr said. “Every one of them is a team effort.”
Aguayo finished with 79 total yards on 11 touches.
Zerr, another junior, broke loose on a trap play for 51 yards in the second quarter, setting up Michael Singleton’s 4-yard touchdown dive with 8:08 left before halftime.
Joe Guidry recovered Ricky McDiarmid’s fumble on the ensuing kick-off, and Live Oak pushed ahead 21-0 with Van Aken’s sneak from two yards out.
“We had a lot of things go our way tonight, but then we made some mistakes that took them away,” Leigh coach Shawn Thomas said. “Give Live Oak credit; they capitalized.”
Michaelis’ touchdown reception came next, capping a 10-play drive that consumed most of the final 3:14 in the first half. De La Cruz completed seven passes during that stretch.
McDiarmid turned an inside dive into a 63-yard gain on Leigh’s first offensive play of the third quarter. Michaelis followed with a bruising 9-yard touchdown run, cutting Live Oak’s lead to 21-14.
“I think we got too comfortable with that big lead,” Porras said. “We can’t allow teams like Leigh to get back in it. They can hurt us.”
Aguayo’s 12-yard score on a trap moved the Acorns back in front by two touchdowns with 2:41 left in the third quarter.
“We knew the inside run was going to be huge tonight,” Live Oak two-way lineman Andrew Michel said. “We were able to push them up front on both sides.”
The Longhorns tried to make it a one-possession game early in the fourth quarter, facing fourth-and-two at the LOHS 5, but Ornduff wrapped up Michaelis in the backfield on a sweep.
“We had a lot of motivation to play our best tonight,” Acorns free safety Ryan Hennings said. “It means a lot to get this win for Richie.”
NOTES: Live Oak’s next opponent, Leland (ranked No. 13 in the county by the San Jose Mercury News, lost 27-26 to Piedmont Hills on a failed 2-point conversion try late in the game Friday, while No. 10 Pioneer took a big step closer to the Mount Hamilton title by beating Santa Teresa 35-21. Oak Grove pounded Lincoln 52-6. The Acorns host Leland next Friday and travel to Santa Teresa for their final regular-season contest Nov. 13.
