Gavilan falls in Coast Conference opener to De Anza, 31-24
CUPERTINO
Good, just not good enough. That suits the 2008 version of the Gavilan Rams football team once again after dropping a 31-24 cliffhanger to the host De Anza Dons Saturday afternoon in the Coast Conference opener.
After marching within 15 yards of paydirt in the closing seconds in a five-point loss to Sacramento City last weekend, the Rams (2-4) tossed 11 passes in the final 54 seconds of play before time ran out at the De Anza 22-yard line.
Freshman quarterback Connor Farotte rushed for two touchdowns while gaining 104 yards in 10 carries to anchor the Gavilan offense. The Rams managed a 177-174 edge in rushing over DeAnza, but lost big in the air, 178-30.
“We dropped some balls,” Gavilan coach John Lango said. “We were able to do some good things rushing and Connor played really well. We may have been out of shape and that led to some poor tackling and an inconsistent offense. We’ll have to address that next week.”
De Anza coach Dan Atencio earned his second straight win over the Rams. Atencio coached Gavilan in 1998-99 before Lango became head coach in 2000.
“We fought back from adversity,” Atencio said. “A bad snap on a punt and poor field position in the first half left us behind, but we made the plays when we had to.”
Gavilan built leads of 14-7, 21-20, then 24-23 before the Dons struck with 1:33 left to play for the deciding touchdown.
Michael Blewett gave Gavilan a 24-23 lead with a 22-yard field goal with 11:50 left in the contest. De Anza gave up the ball on the next two series, first on an Arthur Pittman interception, then on a punt with 4:47 left.
Gavilan’s eighth punt of the day set the Dons up at the Ram 48 with 2:13 left. Sophomore quarterback Isaac Dawid hit passes of eight and 11 yards to reach the Gavilan 29. After scrambling for five yards, Dawid found wideout Kendall Hendon open in the endzone for the 24-yard game-winner. Dawid added the two-point conversion with a toss to Caleb Wilcox.
Farotte, who split time under center with sophomore Nick Kalantari, handled the 13-play drive in the last 1:33. Farotte converted a pair of third downs with pass completions, but had a fourth down pass with three seconds left intercepted by Jerry Barnes in the endzone.
De Anza appeared ready to ease to victory in the opening minutes, taking the kickoff and marching 62 yards in 11 plays to a 7-0 lead. Scatback Lawrence Taylor, who was limited to 38 yards in 13 carries, darted off left tackle for the final three yards with 10:47 left in the first quarter.
The Rams scored twice within a span of three minutes in the second quarter to produce a 14-7 lead.
Gavilan took advantage of a 20-yard De Anza punt to begin a scoring drive on the Dons 35. Two runs by Matt Perkins produced one first down, then two De Anza penalties on one play moved the ball to the 6. Farotte scored on a one-yard quarterback sneak with 9:58 left in the half for the 7-7 tie.
De Anza punter Will Conklin could not handle a low snap, allowing Tim Harvey to make the tackle on the De Anza 10. Three plays later, Perkins slanted off left tackle from two yards out, Blewett converted and the Rams were up 14-7.
The Dons made it 14-14 when Dawid lofted a 12-yard TD pass to Jaqjeet Sidhu with 2:22 left.
Farotte had the longest play of the day when he kept the ball on a sweep around the left side, juked past one defender and outraced the secondary for a 55-yard touchdown run and 21-14 cushion 1:22 into the third quarter.
De Anza rebounded with a touchdown four plays into the next series, an 11-yard cutback run by Chris Mendoza. Jose Villanueva’s point-after kick sailed wide right, leaving the Dons down 21-20 with 11:54 left in the third.
The Dons took the lead for the second time at 23-21 when Villanueva made a 25-yard field goal with 3:55 left in the third quarter. Blewett’s field goal 3:10 into the fourth set the stage for the Dawid heroics.
