Live Oak rolled with defense to beat Lincoln 17-13 on Oct. 17, then with offense to defeat Branham 52-46 on Oct. 23. The victories have vaulted the Acorns back into the top of the league race.
Gage Jones paced the Acorns’ offense with 523 rushing yards during the two weeks and Adrian Leal produced four scores in that span, three on passes to Tanner Holeman. Aiden Rogers led the defense.
Live Oak has improved to 7-1 overall, 2-1 in the Blossom Valley Athletic League, Mt. Hamilton Division. Santa Teresa, the 49-35 victor over the Acorns in the league opener, leads with a 3-0 mark and Live Oak and Lincoln are knotted at 2-1. The Saints and Lions will face off later in the season.
The Acorns’ remaining ledger includes 0-3 Leigh on Oct. 21 and a visit to 1-2 Christopher on Nov. 6.
The dramatic two-week stretch began as Lincoln roared into Morgan Hill with a dominant rushing attack that had propelled them to six straight wins to open the year. Live Oak quieted the Lions’ roar with a thrilling come-from-behind 17-13 victory.
The hero list for the night began with the entire Acorns’ defense. Lincoln was averaging 42 points per game and racked up 317 rushing yards the previous week against a strong Branham team.
Concurrently, the Live Oak defense sprung leaks in yielding 49 points to Santa Teresa.
On this night on the home field, Live Oak shined. The Acorns held Lincoln to just 189 total yards, 100 on the ground. On the other side of the ball, Live Oak racked up 374 yards.
“We changed up our defense,” safety/receiver Tanner Holeman said. “We locked in. They couldn’t do anything against our defensive line.”
Royce Mendonca, Santino DeSantiago and Manny Mercardo were the primary defenders in the trenches. Linebacker Anden Rogers played a fierce game and accumulated 10 tackles.
Partners included Noah Rivera, Anthony Rocha and Ryan Brown.
The secondary supported against the run and kept tabs on the aerial game, which limited Lincoln quarterback Luca Papoulias to a 9-for-23 day.
A week later, Live Oak pulled ahead of Branham and maintained a small lead during a second half battle royal. Jones rushed for four scores and added another via an 82-yard kick return. Leal, 6-for-14 for 74 yards, hit Holeman and Isaac Watson for touchdowns.
Rogers, Dylan Fisher, Royce Mendonca and Messiah Luna each had 10 tackles. Fisher had 3.5 sacks.
Against Lincoln, the Acorns led 3-0 at halftime. After the break, the Lions scored a touchdown but Live Oak replied with one of its own. Early in the fourth quarter, the Lions cashed in another drive to pull back on top 13-10. Again, the Acorns replied with a touchdown, producing a 17-13 lead. In the final minutes, the Live Oak defense stood tall to preserve the victory.
“We made one or two more plays than they did,” Live Oak coach Mike Gemo said. “It was a good and physical game. Both teams ran hard. On defense, we fixed some things from last week. Our front seven played really well tonight.”
The Live Oak attack was led by the powerful running of Jones, who rocked and rolled for 195 yards on 38 carries. Leal completed 5-of-10 passes for 142 yards and one touchdown. Holeman caught four of those throws for 125 yards.
“I think last week was not up to our standard,” Leal said. “We found a different way to win tonight. It shows the heart of the team. We are back.”
Live Oak controlled time of possession and doubled the yardage total of the Lions. Most of that came on carries by Jones, who used vision and quickness to burst through holes and physicality to drag defenders with him for extra yardage.
Along with the big night at Branham, Jones has now raised his season total to 1,719 yards, tops in the Central Coast Section and sixth best in the state of California. He is averaging a superb 7.6 yards per carry and has scored 20 touchdowns.
“The big men up front do it all,” Jones said. “They create those holes and that makes it easy for me to run.”
Jones runs behind a strong crew, including DeSantiago, Mendonca, Diego Garcia, Tyler Lang, Jacob Meininger and others. Damien Dominguez, at fullback, provides blocking for Jones and also pass protection for Leal.
Leal’s 33-yard field goal on the first drive of the game put the Acorns on top 3-0. After that, defenses dominated and both teams struggled through five possessions each.
“It was a tough game; we were hungry for that win,” Jones said. “In the first half, we made a couple mistakes. At halftime, we talked about going back out and playing Live Oak football. We came out and dominated.”
Things opened up just past the midpoint of the third quarter. Lincoln receiver Michael Whitelaw adjusted to an underthrown pass for a catch and a 40-yard score. A fumbled snap foiled the PAT and the tally read 6-3. With 11:12 remaining, Leal connected with Holeman on a third-and-seven pass and the Acorns reached paydirt.
“I did a quick inside move first,” Holeman said. “Then I cut back out and was open.”
The play call lined other receivers on the far side, drawing the free safety to that side of the field and giving Holeman 1-on-1 coverage. The 50-yard score resulted in loud cheers from the packed home stands and a 10-6 lead.
Lincoln running back Kyan Phillips led his team back on top, cashing in the subsequent drive with a 14-yard scoring run. The Lions led 13-10 but Live Oak responded. On the first play from scrimmage, Leal and Holeman combined for another huge play.
“I went outside, then made a cut,” Holeman said. “I went up the middle.”
Leal threw a dime, to the one place only Holeman could reach and just beyond two defenders. The 45-yard completion on the deep post route put the ball on the Lincoln 11. A few plays later, it was third-and-five on the Lincoln six-yard line when Leal fooled the defense for the game-winning touchdown.
A fake to Jones up the middle drew the Lincoln defenders, but Leal kept the ball and ran a naked bootleg around the open left side. He outraced two would-be tacklers to the pylon for the score. With 5:25 to play, it was 17-13.
“I just rolled out and I saw nobody,” Leal said. “I allowed my legs to do the rest. I went all out.”
Lincoln tried to reply. A possession produced just 15 yards and two incompletes and they yielded the ball on downs. In the final minute, they had one more gasp. It went nowhere, with three incomplete passes and then a huge fourth-down sack on pressure by Mercardo, Mendonca, Josiah Delgado and Elias Holesberg.
“We did a lot of improvement in fixing up plays , “Mercardo said. “Our ‘D’ locked in today. The scoreboard showed it.”
