Two interceptions and two explosive runs keep Bulldog’s in hunt
for title MORGAN HILL The Sobrato Bulldogs (4-0-1) kept their West
Valley Divsion title hopes alive in their 8-8 tie with the Andrew
Hill Falcons (3-1-1) on Friday.
Two interceptions and two explosive runs keep Bulldog’s in hunt for title
MORGAN HILL
The Sobrato Bulldogs (4-0-1) kept their West Valley Divsion title hopes alive in their 8-8 tie with the Andrew Hill Falcons (3-1-1) on Friday.
The Bulldogs defense contained the Falcons’ high-powered running back A.J. Ellis through the first quarter, but were worn down after a long possession in the second.
With about 8:30 left in the first half, the Falcons marched 53 yards for their ony touchdown.
Facing a third and goal from the six-yard line, Ellis was sacked by Sobrato’s Anthony Zizzo, junior, and Michael Mira, senior, for a 22-yard loss while attempting a halfback option pass.
Ellis fumbled the ball and lost 20 yards on the play, but Andrew Hill recovered and faced a long fourth and goal.
On the next play, facing a fourth-and-27, Ellis redeemed himself, however, taking a screen pass from quarterback David Floris for a 27-yard score, and his 18th touchdown of the year.
On the point after attempt, Ellis, acting as the holder, took the snap, rolled to his right and hit Anthony Sanchez for the two-point conversion.
The Bulldogs went into the half trailing 0-8, but a defensive effort and two explosive runs by Zizzo kept Sobrato in the game.
Sobrato’s junior defensive back Tim Cavanaugh made an interception on the Falcons’ first drive of the second half.
On the third play of the Bulldog’s ensuing possession Zizzo took took a hand off for 63 yards deep into Falcons territory.
Three plays later, after an incomplete pass and a holding penalty, Sobrato’s Alex Meldrum took a hand off from Erick Levell and then hit Levell with a high-thrown pass.
Levell caught the ball at the 20-yard line and raced towards the endzone, but he was stopped short and brought down on a hard hit at the five.
Levell’s knee was injured on the hit and backup Steven Sorce stepped in to lead the Bulldogs.
But Sorce was unable to create for the Bulldogs in the red zone, mishandling three snaps.
“You got to tip your hat to Sorce,” Sobrato head coach Dan Brown said. “Our center, Kevin Taylor has a broken right hand and he’s been snappping with his left … Sorce didn’t take any snaps from him during practice so that was why he mishandeled a few snaps.”
Sobrato opted for a field goal, but sophomore Adam Guerra’s 22-yard attempt was blocked and the Falcons recovered the ball at their own 25-yard line.
Andrew Hill held onto the the ball into the fourth quarter, burning more than six minutes off the clock and marching all the way down to Sobrato’s 12-yard line, but penalties and incomplete passes led to a turnover on downs at the 5:18 mark.
Taking over from their own 18-yard line Sobrato needed only one big play to reach the endzone.
Zizzo took the hand off from Sorce, broke around the left end and raced 82 yards for the touchdown.
“The line blocked good all night,” Zizzo said. “On the touchdown run I was thinking don’t stop, don’t let anyone catch you.”
Needing a two-point conversion to tie the game, Sorce found senior wide receiver Alejandro Blanco open in the end zone for the score.
On the Falcons’ next possession, Cavanaugh picked off Floris for the second time, setting up the Bulldogs at the Andrew Hill 33 yard-line with a little over four mintes left in the game.
Sobrato controlled the ball and marched down to the Falcons’ six-yard line, but Andrew Hill’s defense made a statement, stopping Bulldogs’ runners for losses and sacking Sorce for an 11-yard loss on third-and-goal from the eight-yard-line.
With only 11 seconds to play, and facing a fourth-and goal from the 17-yard line, Soobrato brought in Guerra for the field goal.
Guerra’s kick had the distance but soared far left of the goalposts, and the game ended in a tie.
“These kind of games make a program,” Brown said. “A tie is disheartening, but we didn’t let this game get away from us … we earned every ounce to tie this game.”
