It certainly wasn't easy, but Soquel kept its Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League title hopes alive with a touchdown with eight seconds remaining to record a 33-26 win over host Scotts Valley Saturday afternoon. With the victory, the Knights improved to 5-1 overall, 2-0 in the SCCAL. The Falcons dropped to 1-4 (0-1).
The heavily favored Knights needed a touchdown on their final play from scrimmage as Lucas Cordoza found Trestan Peacock on a three-yard scoring pass with eight seconds left for the game-winner. The touchdown capped off an eight-play, 80-yard drive.
Scotts Valley had tied the game on a 32-yard field goal by Jack Lavery with just 2:40 to play in a wild contest that saw the teams trade leads six times. The Falcons jumped out to a 10-0 first-quarter lead on the strength of a 42-yard field goal by Lavery and a 14-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Garrett Johnston to Jake Rehnberg on the final play of the first quarter.
The Knights came right back with a pair of touchdown runs from running back Fabiano Hale (31 carries, 223 yards, 3 TDs) to take a 14-10 lead. In the third quarter, Hale answered a touchdown run by Rehnberg with a 62-yard run to give Soquel a 20-16 lead. However, Rehnberg came right back with another score, a three-yarder, to put Scotts Valley back ahead, 23-20, heading into the fourth quarter.
The win by Soquel sets up a potential battle of SCCAL unbeatens, as the Knights next face off against Aptos Oct. 19. But first the Mariners (4-2, 2-0) need to get past Scotts Valley, which visits Aptos Friday night (7:30 pm).
