As he had quite a bit during the game, Jonathan Singleton was scrambling for his life.
The Piedmont Hills rush broke through the Live Oak offensive line and forced the junior quarterback to scramble to try to extend the play.
Singleton saw receiver Jaime Martinez in the end zone. A corner was all over him and a safety was coming over to help. Singleton let the ball fly.
“I just thought if I ran, he’d throw it to me. I saw Johnny under pressure and he threw it up,” Martinez said. “They believed in even after so many drops during the game. I just saw it and it all happened and I caught it.”
Martinez had dropped a pass earlier in the series where there was no one near him and he could have walked in for a touchdown. But in that moment, Martinez said he was so focused on making sure the ball got into his hands, he can remember every moment of the catch.
It hung in the air for an eternity, but Martinez tracked the ball the entire time. The defender focused more on Martinez than the ball and the safety was a step too late.
Martinez brought the ball down. The crowd went wild. The sidelines went crazy. The players on the field rushed to congratulate him.
With 1:10 left to play in the game, Singleton’s scrambling ability led to a go-ahead touchdown and ultimately to a 21-20 come from behind victory to stun Piedmont Hills and snap a three-game losing streak.
“That was an exciting game. That was a good football team over there. The last two years it seems like it came down to the last play,” said coach Mike Gemo.
Live Oak trailed 20-7 after the first half, scoring 14 unanswered points in the second half and both on great plays by Singleton extending a play with his feet and keeping his eyes down field.
At the close of the third quarter, Singleton found himself running for his life only to find Christian Guary in a soft spot in the defense and fed him the ball.
Guary capitalized on the defensive confusion and sprinted for the end zone for a 22-yard score.
Guary caught seven passes for 182 yards and two touchdowns and both were dramatic.
Before his 22-yard strike to cut the deficit down to six, Guary caught a touchdown that was only beat by Martinez’ grab in terms of dramatics.
Late in the second quarter, Singleton had four defenders in his face and he once again was scrambling for his life.
It looked as though Singleton had no choice but to throw the ball away, but he sent a pass up the sideline where Guary was in the area.
The ball floated just enough to give Guary time to get underneath the pass. Guary caught the ball and there was no one within 20 yards of him.
By the time Piedmont Hills reacted, Guary was up the sidelines and gone for a 68-yard touchdown catch and run.
Of Guary’s seven receptions, five went for more than 10 yards.
Singleton threw for 229 yards and three TDs.
“Johnny is tough to take down, so when he can scramble around and makes plays with his feet, it helps us out,” Gemo said.
But for the heroics of the quarterback and two receivers, it was the tenacity of the defense that carried the day for Live Oak.
“Our defense has been stout the last couple of games, we just needed to put some points on the board to help them out,” Gemo said.
Coming off a game where the Acorns gave up just nine points on defense, Live Oak matched the performance with a strong second half and an entire game of wearing down the Pirates’ offense.
Live Oak forced four turnovers on the night including one that set up the late-game dramatics.
Jake Saltonstall found himself in the right place at the right time when a fumbled snap and fought through a sea of bodies to come up with the ball at midfield.
“I just saw a bunch of legs. It was in the pile for a while, Saltonstall said. “I saw a ball and I had to get it. I had to capitalize.”
Saltonstall held the ball high for a while celebrating as his teammates went crazy around him.
At that point, Gemo said he “knew” they were going to win.
For the defense it was a redemptive strike after giving up 20 points in the first half, including giving up a late touchdown that seemed to suck the air out of the Acorn stands.
Right after the miracle Singleton to Guary, Piedmont Hills needed three plays starting from midfield to score a touchdown to go up 20-7 with 5 seconds left to play on a Gabriel Reclusado pass to Courtney Lane.
Piedmont Hills’ Reclusado threw for 211 yards and two touchdowns, most of that came in the first half.
Reclusado burned the Acorns for 149 yards in the first half.
“Going into the locker room, we were talking amongst ourselves. We had good practices for three weeks. We really stepped it up in the second half,” Saltonstall said. “We had a little hype up speech and it got us going in the second half. We just came together and played as a family in the second half.”
Despite the Pirates scoring three touchdowns, the Acorns blocked two PATs.
The defense also forced two fumbles to start the first and second quarters, but the Acorns couldn’t get much going on offense to respond.
Take away the 68-yard touchdown at the end of the half and Live Oak was held to 68 yards of total offense.
The tide finally turned late in the third quarter after the defense held on fourth down to give the Acorn offense the ball back.
Live Oak went on a 6-play, 81-yard drive featuring a Guary 41-yard pass to ultimately set up a Singleton to Guary 22-yard touchdown strike to cut the deficit down to 20-14.
Live Oak will next get ready to take on Leigh on Oct. 6 in San Jose.
Despite Live Oak’s league-opening loss, Santa Teresa gave the Mt. Hamilton Division a jolt Friday night with an upset win over Oak Grove.
Westmont sits atop the league at 2-0 and six teams are tied for second at 1-1. Piedmont Hills is the odd team out at 0-2.
