Team overcomes 10 turnovers with late rally to get past
Wolverines
After a strong start, the Central Coast Barnstormers fell silent during Saturday’s playoff game at South Valley Junior High, committing turnover after turnover and miscue after miscue against the visiting Elk Grove Wolverines.
But the Barnstormers, who were ranked 14th in the United States coming in, were not to be denied the chance to move on in the Golden State Amateur Football League, scoring a touchdown with three minutes left in the game to win 27-24.
“It was a very emotional game for us,” said 72-year-old Barnstormer coach Norm Kabbani. “They really picked it and started to trust each other a little more.”
Immediately after the game, Kabbani and the coaching staff left for Sacramento to check out next Saturday’s opponent. The Barnstormers will play the Capital City Fury, who defeated the South Bay Buccaneers 16-10 in overtime, in the American Football Conference championship game.
The game will be played at Benincia High School in Benincia at either 2 p.m. or 6 p.m. depending on a vote by the board. The GSAFL championship is set for Aug. 2 at Kezar Field in San Francisco.
The Barnstormers are 11-1 on the season. After three blowout games to start the season, the team has had to grind to pull out wins. Except the 62-20 thrashing of the Santa Cruz Sharks, the rest of the games have been decided by ten points or less, included two one-point victories. The only loss this season for the Barnstormers came on June 7 at the hands of the South Bay Buccaneers.
Barnstormers’ Shade Williams caught the game winning over-the-shoulder touchdown as he battled the sun in the corner of the end zone. He then held the ball as Juan Rios kicked the point after.
“I couldn’t see the ball in the sun,” Williams said. “I put my hands up, and the ball was right there where the sun was.”
“It was a great team win for us,” Williams added. “We just stopped scoring in the second half, and they were able to come back.”
The Barnstormers got things started in the first quarter against the Wolverines, as former Hollister High quarterback Bryan Smith connected with David Gittens for the first two touchdowns of the game to give the Barnstormers the lead back.
They were not the ordinary pass-and-catch touchdowns either. Gittens was covered tightly both times, but still managed to hull them in. The first one came with 7:18 left in the first quarter. Gittens ran down the right side and then pulled a 40-yard pass in with his right hand after a brief juggling act.
“It was a good pass,” Gittens said.” I turned around, and it was there.”
The Barnstormers second touchdown was a 9-yard pass that Gittens battled a defender for just as he was tackled after crossing the goal line. Smith was 15-for-32 for 205 yards.
Receiver Rigo Munoz and Raymond Cook also had some big catches for the Barnstormers to set up the first two touchdowns.
Justin Reber got the Wolverines on the board first with 9:20 left in the first quarter. He got by one tackle and then raced down the field for a 68-yard touchdown. The following extra point was blocked by Juan Rios and Alfredo Echauri.
That proved to be big because it forced the Wolverines to attempt the two-point play each time down the field. And each time the attempt failed.
The Wolverines got another touchdown with 4:15 left in the first quarter to draw within 14-12. Matt Craine ran it right through the middle for 60 yards, leaving the Barnstormers wandering what happened.
But the Barnstormers answered with a touchdown before the first quarter ended. Munoz hauled in a 26-yard pass and was pushed out of bounds a yard short of the line. Running back Tommy Jimenez powered it across on the next play.
The Barnstormers avoided trouble when Gittens fumbled on a kick return in the second quarter. The Wolverines started 25 yards out, but Tim Moran picked off the potential touchdown throw on the 1-yard line.
The Barnstormers struggled to get a little breathing room away from their end zone. The interception didn’t hurt the Wolverines, who came up with their own pick. The two-point catch was also caught, but the receiver was ruled to not have been in fair territory.
Elk Grove regained the lead on the next possession as Richard Braxton picked off Smith and returned it 55 yards to put the Wolverines up 24-20 going into the half.
“In the second half, we just tried to eliminate some of our mistakes,” said Barnstormer coach Steve Ontiveros. “Our O-line really stepped up. Their corner No. 47 (Brian Steger) kept pressuring and was getting around all day.”
Although the Wolverines (7-5) had some big plays, the Barnstormers came up with some timely defense when needed. Jeff Hewitt, who attended Gavilan College before recently graduating from San Jose State, came up with several strong plays up the middle. He led the Barnstormers with 10 tackles and six sacks.
“There were several guys that kept pressuring,” Hewitt said. “We had good line play. We are finally at full strength this game. We might have been a little rusty after five weeks of not playing though.”
Lance Goularte recovered a fumble for the Barnstormers in the third quarter, but the team wasn’t able to score.
The Moran brothers, Duffy and Tim, did a good job on the pass protection, deflecting several passes.
“Our pass defense and our defense was on today,” Ontiveros said. “We were just trying to get the first downs and play the short field game.”
The Barnstormers appeared to have the momentum at the end of the third quarter after starting on their own 5-yard line. The Barnstormers, who had 10 turnovers while the Wolverines had six, wanted to take no chances. So they went with the running game.
Arvin Silvestre, the shortest player on the team at 5-for-3, weaved his way through for 34 yards on four caries during that drive. The Barnstormers got across the 50-yard line, but a penalty pushed them back across where they were forced to punt it away.
Central Coast had another chance to score with 4:30 left in the game. Gittens, on special teams, received a nice block from Duffy Moran, who leveled a pair of defenders with one hit. Gittens ran the ball back for a touchdown that would have been about 80 yards, but it was called back. And the Barnstormers took over on the Wolverine 32-yard line. That set it up for the winning catch.
“It seems like every big play has been called back this year,” Gittens said. “But it worked out this time.”
Elk Grove wasn’t done, marching down the field to get to the Barnstormer 22-yard line. But Hewitt and Lamar Brooks were able to get good pressure on quarterback Julian Ogans, and Rios caught the interception as the Wolverines had to go deep. The Barnstormers were able to run off the clock for the win.
