SAN JOSE — Facing third and long on Leland’s 26-yard line up by just seven points, Willow Glen knew that they had to make a big play to stop all momentum and seal the game. Quarterback Lorenzo Gayles did just that, stepping up and throwing a beautiful fade to wide receiver Connell Ryans to take a two possession lead late in the fourth quarter to pull off the upset against Leland and take the Santa Teresa division lead, winning the game 33-27.
After trading a pair of short offensive possessions, Willow Glen (6-2, 4-1 ST) got to work, scoring on a long drive with a 7-yard touchdown pass from Gayles to Ryans to draw first blood against Leland, putting them up 7-0. This score established Willow Glen’s dominant presence because it marked the first time that Leland has trailed since Week 1 at Santa Teresa. In the second quarter, Gayles again connected with Ryans for a long pass in the middle of the field, who shrugged off the cornerback and sprinted into the endzone for a 56-yard touchdown to take a 14-0 lead over Leland heading into halftime.
Willow Glen increased their already positive momentum with a successful onside kick to open the second half. The Rams scored with a four-yard rushing touchdown by senior Waking Bailey, seemingly on their way to a major upset. However, on their next offensive possession, Gayles fumbled the ball, and the Chargers recovered deep into Rams territory. Leland quarterback Carson Yates ran the ball sixteen yards into the endzone to give the Chargers some life before the end of the quarter, still trailing 21-7.
Willow Glen drove the ball into Leland’s redzone to open the final quarter of play, but Gayles was picked off by Leland senior Ryan Cance. The Leland offense took advantage of the turnover, driving the distance of the field to score on a four-yard touchdown run by Yates, cutting Willow Glen’s lead to just seven points.
The momentum was slowly shifting towards Leland (7-1, 4-1 ST), and was seemingly completely now on Leland’s side after the Chargers defense forced the Rams to punt on a 4th and 20 situation. However, the Rams decided to fake punt the ball, and ran the ball close to the first down marker. Although the Chargers celebrated the fake punt stop, a flag was thrown on the Leland defense for a facemask penalty, setting the Rams up in the redzone with an opportunity to seal the game. On a third and ten, Gayles threw a beautiful spiral to Ryans for the 26-yard touchdown to put Willow Glen up 27-14 with just five and a half minutes left in the game.
However, Leland did not let up. On the very next play, Yates threw a 72-yard bomb to senior Anthony Gonzales, who was beat for the touchdown to Gayles the play before, for a dramatic touchdown to immediately cut Willow Glen’s lead back to just seven points. Leading 27-20 with five minutes left, the Rams knew that all they had to do was run out the clock, and that is exactly what they did, capping off a long drive with a two-yard rushing touchdown by Tyler Hawkins to take a 33-20 lead with just two minutes left in the game. Leland did drive down the field on the next possession to score on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Carson Yates to his brother Cannon Yates, but it was too late, as that just left eight and a half seconds on the clock. Leland’s onside kick was recovered by Willow Glen, and the upset was complete. Willow Glen had defeated Leland 33-27, taking the lead in the Santa Teresa division.
This was the first time this season that Leland had trouble moving the ball. Junior running back Kyle Anderson, the workhorse back for the Chargers, found no space to run, but still ended up with 133 rushing yards on 21 carries and 62 receiving yards on five catches. Falling behind early, the Chargers had to resort to their passing game, and Yates delivered with two rushing touchdowns and two passing touchdowns, accounting for all of Leland’s points. This game was Leland’s first loss of the season, who now falls to second place in the Santa Teresa standings.
Leland head coach Mike Ward blamed the loss on himself.
“At the end of the day, this is on me. I got out-coached by their offense, did not prepare our guys enough across the board, and just came out a little flat across the line, and so it’s just back to the drawing board,” said Ward. “We have film tomorrow morning, and we get back on the field on Monday. At the end of the day, this is not on the players. This is not on our men. This is on me.”
Willow Glen’s offense was centered around their quarterback Gayles. The Rams gashed the Chargers through the quarterback power run play, which Gayles executed to perfection, outside stretch runs, and deep passes to Ryans. Ryans ended up with five catches for 134 yards and three touchdowns. Using his 6’1” frame, Ryans was making jump ball plays all over the field to help his team get the crucial win.
Ryans was ecstatic that his team’s hard work at practice this week paid off in the form of a win.
“Our line really contributed to my performance today. The way we practiced all week, we came to work, we did it, we executed the first half, and we finished the game how we wanted,” said Ryans. “We’re really hyped right now. We are going to finish the season now. We got Indy next week, and we are expecting to ball out just like we did tonight.”
Willow Glen head coach Oscar Caballero was proud of what he saw from his team in the game.
“It was a team effort from both sides of the ball. Our defense played excellent, and our offense made big plays. We hung through. We asked the guys to play four quarters, they needed to do that, and we’re thankful for that,” said Caballero. “We have been moving in the right direction, so this win continues the momentum that we have had. We are going to face a tough Independence team next week, so it will be good to see it.”
Leland will try to bounce back from the loss at Gunderson (1-7, 0-5 ST), coming off of a blowout loss to Branham. Meanwhile, Willow Glen will try to maintain the first spot in the division at Independence (5-3, 4-1 ST), coming off of a 56-6 blowout win at San Jose.
