Despite an abundance of turnovers and penalties, the Live Oak
football team displays brilliance in win over Santa Clara
Morgan Hill – A light sprinkle turned into a drizzle Friday as the Live Oak football team flooded the scoreboard to defeated the Santa Clara Bruins 42-12.
Despite five fumbles and nine penalties, Live Oak played as a team on both sides of the ball and jumped to an early 7-0 lead in the first quarter.
Set up with good field position by a long punt return from senior Steven Smith, the Live Oak running game went to work.
After an encroachment penalty on Santa Clara, junior running back Jeff Blean had a 29-yard carry to put the Acorns into the red zone.
On the next play, from 17 yards out, senior running back Steven Rodriguez ran up the middle for Live Oak’s first touchdown. Live Oak’s sure-footed senior kicker Casey Mott knocked in the first of six PATs to give the Acorns a 7-0 lead.
With time winding down in the first quarter, the Bruins’ senior quarterback Mitch O’Donnell completed a short pass to senior wide receiver Edwin Betancourt around the the Live Oak 45-yard line.
Live Oak’s junior cornerback Nick Priedite tackled Betancourt on the play, causing him to fumble, which Live Oak’s Jeff Roberts then recovered.
On the same play Roberts fumbled the ball, which the Bruins recovered, and Live Oak was also penalized for a block in the back giving the Bruins half the distance to the goal.
With great field position O’Donnell connected with senior wide receiver Morgan Yee for a 22-yard touchdown pass on the first play of the second quarter.
Hoping to take the lead the Bruins faked the PAT and went for a two-point conversion, which the Live Oak goal-line defense quickly snuffed.
In the second quarter Live Oak’s defense stepped up in a major way.
Senior linebacker Zach Young deflected a pass, and senior defensive tackle Nicholas Gaeta sacked O’Donnell for a small loss to bring up fourth down.
Facing fourth and nine with 8:56 left in the second quarter, the Bruins attempted a 45-yard field goal which came up short enough for Live Oak’s Kyle Hennings to return from the 5 to the 32-yard line.
Two plays later Matt Cummins scored the second touchdown for the Acorns’ on a long, 65-yard sweep.
With under four minutes in the half, Hennings made his speed and defensive presence felt when he intercepted a pass at the Bruins’ 35-yard line and returned it to the five.
Three plays later Roberts further extended Live Oak’s lead with a five-yard touchdown run.
Leading 21-6 with 2:26 left in the half, Live Oak recovered a picture-perfect onside kick by Mott.
With a first and 10 Live Oak was called for a illegal receiver downfield penalty, slowing their momentum.
On the next play Rodriguez fumbled the ball on a run up the middle, and Santa Clara recovered.
Again making a defensive stand, Live Oak held the Bruins from scoring, highlighted when senior Garrett Campagana sacked O’Donnell.
On Live Oak’s ensuing possession, with :55 left in the second quarter, senior quarterback Tim O’Rourke threw a deep pass down the sideline to Hennings who ran for 15 yards after the catch to score a 55-yard touchdown.
Santa Clara had :45 seconds to score before halftime, but would again be stopped by Live Oak’s defense, highlighted by another quarterback sack by Campagna.
Down 28-6 at the start of the third quarter, Santa Clara marched 69 yards for their second and final touchdown, but would again fail on the two-point conversion attempt.
Up 28-12, Live Oak made another touchdown run at the end of the third quarter sparked by an interception by Cummins.
Spilling over to the fourth quarter, Live Oak’s scoring drive was punctuated by two completions from O’Rourke to senior tight end Will Sparling.
The first was a 41-yard completion on second and 12 from the opposite 49-line, putting the Acorns into the red zone.
Two plays later, after unsuccessful runs, O’Rourke hit Sparling in the end zone with a low, 11-yard pass for the score.
Eager to cut the lead, Santa Clara made an impressive run of their own, but were stopped on fourth and goal from the 12-yard line as Live Oak’s junior linebacker John Reichert brought the pressure and sacked O’Donnell for a loss.
Taking over at their own 12-yard line, Live Oak only needed one play to further extend their lead, as junior running back Billy Van Aken took a hand-off and jetted 88 yards for the touchdown and longest gain of the game.
Despite the win, Live Oak head coach John Michael Porras was disappointed with the amount of turnovers his team had.
“Things are starting to come together, but this league we play in is tough,” Porras said. “Every week its a battle, and we need to limit our turnovers to one or two a game at most.
“We play for the league and we play for the playoffs … and right now we’re not ready for that.”
To give some playing time and develop his team Porras started bringing reserves into the game with about 3:00 left.
“This is how the whole team gets stronger,” Porras said. “There’s nothing like going game speed.”
While all the parts were there, they just weren’t functioning at the same time, Porras said.
“When we we’re working together on the same play we have something that I’m excited about,” Porras said. “It’s like having a sports car in Morgan Hill with the stop lights all over the place … we’re stopping and starting, and we should be somewhere at 0-60 in five seconds, but it takes us five minutes .. we still get there, but it hurts.”
