Late in the fourth quarter, the Wilcox Chargers were unabashedly shouting at Santa Clara’s star running back Adam Garza and for good reason. With five minutes left in the game, Garza and the Bruins were threatening their three-point lead, having driven the ball to the Wilcox 12-yard line.
All night, the Bruins (5-3, 2-3 SCVAL) had been keeping up with the Chargers (5-3, 3-2), and neither team could maintain the lead for much longer than 10 minutes. Under these circumstances, Santa Clara could pull off an underdog victory, or Wilcox could narrowly snag a win. As the Bruins lined up to run a play, players, coaches, and fans alike held their breath for this critically important moment.
And what happened next was remarkable.
The Bruins fumbled the ball and dropped it again when they tried to recover. Wilcox picked the ball up and lost it too, until Roland Luke of Wilcox finally scooped it up and ran 88 yards for a defensive touchdown with four and a half minutes left. The freak play was key as Wilcox held on for a 36-26 win to solidify its standing for an automatic CCS playoff berth.
Like that elusive ball, the lead changed hands so many times, but in the penultimate play of the night, Wilcox managed to increase its streak over its longtime rival to 29 consecutive victories.
“Twenty-nine straight wins. Good things happen if you keep playing like this,” Wilcox coach Dan Brown said with a smile.
The points racked up fairly quickly throughout the game, and senior running back Adrian Gutierrez scored a one-yard TD run on Santa Clara's first possession of the game to take a 7-0 lead. Two minutes later, Wilcox answered with a 25-yard TD run from junior running back Delshawn Mitchell to equalize at 7-7. Both teams executed primarily running plays, combining for a total of three completions in the entire first quarter.
“We’ve been practicing hard, running plays every day, and watching film," said Mitchell, who rushed for 143 yards. "We’ve been practicing to get our focus.”
Early in the second quarter, Wilcox scored again to take a 14-7 lead on Luke’s 25-yard run and managed to hold the lead even after Santa Clara's Edwin Munguia scored on a 9-yard TD. A bad snap on the extra point kept the score at 14-13 Wilcox at the half.
Garza ran 10 yards for a TD to give the Bruins the lead, but Santa Clara failed on the two-point conversion, leaving it 19-14. The Bruins started to feel the consequences of missing their PATs because Wilcox pulled ahead at 22-19 on Mitchell's second rushing touchdown of the night. Wilcox quarterback Kenny Dipko got the 2-point conversion at the tail end of the third quarter and despite the fact that both teams had scored three touchdowns to that pint, Wilcox had a three-point lead heading into the fourth quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Garza scored another touchdown to give Santa Clara its final lead at 26-22, but Wilcox rebounded again when Dipko threw to a wide open Alex Ortiz to make it 29-26, Wilcox. As Santa Clara attempted to take the lead one last time, the fumble and Luke’s big TD run essentially ended the game. The Bruins had one spark of opportunity, but the long ball intended for Dajon Thomas fell through his hands in the final minutes.
