Live Oak is heading to the Central Coast Section playoffs on a high note, following a 35-18 win over Lincoln Thursday night.
“You want to win every game when we get out there and these kids wanted to win this one on senior night against a tough opponent,” said Live Oak coach Mike Gemo. “These kids gave their all and we just made more plays than they did.”
The Acorns will now await their playoff seeding on Sunday and whether they will have a home game to kick things off.
According to Prep2prep, Live Oak was slated to be the No. 5 seed and playing Seaside. But with the win, the Acorns should overtake Seaside in points for the No. 4 seed. With Aptos winning Thursday and Palma idle, the Mariners should jump from No. 3 to No. 2 and dropping the Chieftans down to No. 3.
Live Oak and Palma should finish with the same number of points, making things especially interesting at the seeding meeting on Sunday.
The Acorns are in this positive position thanks to taking care of business against Lincoln behind the 212 rushing yards of Cole Davis.
“It means we’re confident. It means we’ve got our heads up. We’re just ready to keep wining,” Davis said of earning a win ahead of playoffs.
Davis ran for three touchdowns, including two in the second half that helped to clinch the win for Live Oak.
The Acorns held a 14-12 lead at the half and led 21-18 late in the third quarter when Davis broke free.
He was already the tip of the spear in establishing Live Oak’s offense, but he put the nail in coffin with two big runs at the end of the third and midway through the fourth.
“We had to establish the run to get the passing game opened up,” Davis said. “Once we did that, they didn’t know what we were going to run and we just drove it on them.”
Quarterback Jonathan Singleton threw for 99 yards and rushed for 48 more. Receiver Jaime Martinez caught four passes for 72 yards.
Lincoln had just scored to pull to within three of Live Oak when the Acorns responded with a 65-yard, 10-play drive that culminated with Davis breaking free for an 18-yard touchdown run and a 28-18 lead.
After both sides traded turnovers, Lincoln was denied on fourth down at midfield when Anthony Avilla dropped Adam Arenas for a three-yard loss.
Davis just needed one play to make the stand pay off.
He broke through the middle and sprinted for a 49-yard touchdown and the 35-18 margin.
Davis nearly had a third touchdown in the second half when he got outside on a run for 27 yards early in the third quarter.
Christian Guary helped to create a running lane with a tremendous block of a defensive back that helped to spring Davis.
“I knew he had it in him. Sometimes he doesn’t think so, but I knew he had it in him from the start,” Davis said. “He’s the type of guy you build him up and he’ll do great things.”
Ultimately that run and that block helped to set up Live Oak’s first score out of the halftime break when Brock Barnes smashed his way forward for a three-yard touchdown and a 21-12 lead.
Guary had another big block that set up a touchdown when he cleared the way for Jaime Martinez, who caught a 26-yard pass in the first quarter.
That set up Richard Cortez two plays later to score on an eight-yard run for an early 7-0 lead.
The Acorns defense late in the game proved stout to help prevent Lincoln from mounting a comeback.
“The defense made some adjustments at halftime and they just put it on themselves to get the job done,” Gemo said.
Despite surrendering 177 yards of offense in the second half and 200 yards on the ground to Arenas, the defense came up big in the third and fourth quarters.
Tony Difrancesco recovered a loose ball when a snap went over the Lincoln quarterback’s head. Davis cleared the way with a big hit allowing Difrancesco to scoop up the fumble.
“I just thought it was the right thing to do and it ended up working out. It was an experience thing,” Davis said.
Later Avilla came up with a stop on fourth down and the defense as a whole prevented the big plays that turned into touchdowns.
Lincoln initially traded blows with the Acorns, scoring after each time Live Oak scored.
The difference through the first three quarters came down to Lincoln’s ability to convert a point after touchdown.
After Live Oak opened the game with a touchdown from Cortez, Lincoln responded with a 72-yard drive that culminated in a one-yard run Isaac Juarez.
But Live Oak broke through the offensive line forcing Lincoln to attempt a 2-point conversion. It was quickly snuffed out and allowed the Acorns to maintain a 7-6 lead.
Live Oak responded on its next drive with Davis taking an option pitch 26 yards for a 14-6 lead in the first.
The Lions once again responded with an 80-yard drive that ended with Arenas converting on a five-yard run. But an attempt to tie the game with a 2-point conversion failed again to keep Live Oak with a two-point lead.
Following Barnes’ touchdown in the third quarter, Arenas broke loose on a 65-yard touchdown run to push the game to 21-18 after the PAT attempt went wide left.
The seeding meeting for playoffs will begin at 9am in San Jose. The brackets should be ready to go either late morning or by early afternoon.
