Thanksgiving at San Jose City College was one to be remembered. The Big Bone game between the two San Jose-based high schools Lincoln and San Jose was intense the whole way with Lincoln winning, 55-13.
Pressured at their own 12-yard line in the third quarter, San Jose punted, but the Lions Francisco Cruz nimbly ran the ball 50 yards into scoring position. In fact, senior fullback Jacob Avery, who rushed for 164 total yards, only had five yards for the Lions' eighth touchdown.
But why settle?
Instead, Avery grabbed the ball, and as soon as he found an opening, Avery did a front flip into the end zone, setting the score at 55-6 Lincoln.
“I’ve been thinking about it all year. The situation just hadn’t presented itself yet. You know, I had to take full advantage of what just happened.” Avery added, “I was thinking, ‘No matter what happens right now, it’s probably my last touchdown I’m going to get all year through high school.’ So, I just thought I’d go out big.”
Lincoln coach Kevin Collins noted, “[Avery] worked hard in the off season. He’s a strong kid; he’s fast. One of the best backs I’ve ever coached. I’m not trying to put superlatives on these guys. It’s easy to do that when you’re congratulating them, but he’s good.”
Avery’s last touchdown of his high school career topped off an outstanding season, but the senior’s spirit was evident in everyone. The Big Bone game has traditionally been the end of the season faceoff and the “passing of the torch” from the seniors to the juniors. Parents, alums, and classmates from San Jose and Lincoln flocked to the packed event to celebrate and compete.
Once every year, the schools meet to put on this special end-of-the-season game where the seniors from the football and cheerleading squads are recognized. After the cheerleaders’ last performance, one senior could not hold back her tears of joy. Additionally, Lincoln’s band and dance team performed renditions of “Moves Like
Jagger” and “Gangnam Style” as part of the day’s festivities.
The Lions ruled over the San Jose Bulldogs for the 15th consecutive time in their 70-year rivalry, which dates back to 1942.
Said Lincoln football fan Mark Hernandez: “The story goes that 70 years ago, one student [Bob Schmidt] from San Jose saw a steer leg femur at a butcher store. They got the bone cleaned up and nailed it to a piece of wood to become the ‘Big Bone Trophy.’”
This game has become such an important part of their tradition that even though both teams qualified for the CCS playoffs as undefeated in their divisions, they opted out of the playoffs in favor of playing the Big Bone game. Both teams finished 9-1 overall.
“This game’s always great," Collins said. "The fact that (San Jose) had such a phenomenal year really added to the rivalry. We always focus for this game. We know those kids play hard, they coach extremely well, and we always play really hard for it."
As expected, the game itself was full of excitement. However, nobody expected Lincoln to be up 27-0 in the first quarter. The first minutes were slow and filled with turnovers. It wasn’t until Avery slipped through the San Jose defense for a 43-yard touchdown when Lincoln really started to pick up the pace.
On their next possession, Cristapher Ortez scored from 84 yards to make it 14-0. Then, Lincoln’s Christopher Azure intercepted a pass and returned it 20 yards for still another score. Finally, Mario Hidalgo caught a 27-yard touchdown pass and Lincoln was comfortably in front.
With Lincoln’s unstoppable momentum, San Jose never managed to catch up. Before the half ended, sophomore Jacob Hoekstra of Lincoln managed to score yet another touchdown, putting his team ahead 34-0.
San Jose did find relief in Tarik Ballard, a tall and strong tight end, who became the target of numerous Miranda passes. Ballard scored a defensive touchdown after intercepting a pass from Lincoln’s Izaiah Gonzalez as San Jose cut its deficit to 34-6.
But San Jose’s touchdown was more than offset by three more from Lincoln, including Avery’s front flip score. The other two came on a 31-yard run by Ortez and a 40-yard defensive touchdown by Cruz.
San Jose managed a tally at the end as Romie Rodriguez scored on a 1-yard pass from David Riley.
“We are the championship team; we’ve been together from the start. All of us through the summer, spring, anything.” Ortez said. “We went to every practice, and we worked hard. This is our title for a reason.”
