SAN JOSE — A broken down bus before Saturday night’s Central Coast Section Division IV Championship game was only fitting for the Terra Nova High football team after its wild ride this season.
After arriving at Independence High at 6:30 p.m., just 30 minutes before the game was scheduled to start, the game was pushed back to a 7:30 p.m. kickoff instead of the scheduled 7 p.m. Once the game commenced, TN took over en route to a 43-23 win, led by quarterback Anthony Gordon who threw for 228 yards and three touchdowns (he was intercepted twice) and running back running back Reggie Auelua, who rushed for 75 yards and three scores to lead the No. 8-seed Tigers past No. 3 Monte Vista Christian at Independence High.
“Once we get going it’s hard to stop us,” Gordon said. “Once we establish a good running game, the passing game follows and the O-line played well and everything just flowed. The important thing, though, is we got the win.”
Gordon set a new single season CCS record for passing yards (4,875 yards) and touchdowns (48) in the game.
The senior was thrilled to have his starting running back in Auelua back after the junior was injured early in the first quarter in the semifinal game at Carmel last week.
“Reggie sets the tempo before anyone else,” said Gordon. “He’s the best junior back I’ve seen in a long time. Having him back there is like a security blanket in pass protection -- he runs the ball hard and is a great player.”
Monte Vista Christian took a 7-0 lead to start the game after driving 89 yards on five plays to score on a 40-yard Bronson Kirchick 40-yard run. It also held a 15-7 lead in the second quarter before TN went on to outscore the Mustangs 36-16 the rest of the way.
“Our game plan was to slow it down and when you get down too far it’s kind of hard to slow down when you’re fighting the clock,” said MVC coach David Reese. “We could’ve probably given up one less touchdown but I didn’t come here to play close. We came to win."
So did Terra Nova. Gordon's effort leaves him with CCS records of 4,875 yards and 48 touchdowns for a season. His early TD pass to Eric Viana was his 46th of the season, breaking the previous record of 45 set by Menlo School's Jimmy Noriega in 1990.
Terra Nova (7-6) got its first lead when the Tigers went 80 yards on 12 plays -- a drive that was capped by an Auelua one-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-goal with 28 seconds left in the first half. TN went into the half up 22-15.
“They had a real good game plan,” said Terra Nova coach Tim Adams of MVC. “Their coaches watched a lot of film and weren’t going to get beat deep. They gave up the underneath stuff so we were able to screen them quite effectively.
While its defense has been much maligned all year it was a special teams' play that helped set up Terra Nova’s second half push.
Angelo Para blocked a punt to give TN excellent field position, leading to a Gordon 18-yard TD pass to Marvin Montoya.
“The first couple of picks were tough,” said Gordon who threw both of his interceptions in the first half. “I beat myself over the first one because that was a throw I’ve made all year. (The Mustangs' Luke Dillon) just made a great break. But (my) defense stepped up and helped me get where I needed to be.”
Ryan De Los Santos recorded the other interception for the Mustangs.
Terra Nova maneuvered through a gauntlet of higher seeds to win its first CCS title in four years after beating No. 1 seed King’s Academy 42-28 in the first round and surviving a wild shootout at No. 4 Carmel to win 52-49 in the semifinals.
“We knew if we made the playoffs the record didn’t matter and that it was a fresh start,” said Viana who caught five passes for 79 yards and had two touchdown. “We knew that if we were on our game we could beat anyone.”
Anthony Fretty had seven catches for 89 yards to lead the Tigers and Montoya added 37 yards on four catches including his 18-yard touchdown reception in the win.
MVC (10-3), which finished runner-up in the MBL-Pacific, was only able to rush for 21 yards on 14 carries in the second half after rushing for 121 yards on 13 carries in the first half.
Kirchick led the Mustangs with 102 yards (81 rushing and 21 receiving) of offense including a 40-yard touchdown run.
Junior quarterback Ryan Spohn finished 20-of-28 for 154 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions. Ryan De Los Santos led MVC with 48 yards receiving on three catches including a 37-yard touchdown and Mustafa Majeed caught seven passes for 28 yards and an eight-yard touchdown run in the loss.
“The defense stepped up,” Adams said. “We talked about peaking at the end of the year and that if we were going to win this game the defense had to play its best game of the year and they did.”
MVC reached its first CCS title game since the school started a football program back in 1992 and hung with one of the highest scoring teams in the section and one of the most prolific passers in the nation in Gordon.
“The guys fought hard and did a great job -- I'm proud of them," Reese said. “I’m proud of what they accomplished. We fell a little short tonight, but when they look back they’ll realize it was a great accomplishment. They made school history and keep setting the bar higher.”
After three straight years of first-round exits in the Open Division, Terra Nova played in its enrollment division and came away with its first CCS title in four years. It also rebounded from an 0-3 start to Adams' maiden season as head coach by winning seven of its last last 10 games.
