Hillsdale Fighting Knights rally in 4th quarter to win home opener

After cutting the deficit to 12-7 in the first half, the Fighting Knights powered ahead on a guts-and-gusto 1-yard power run by banged up running back Jacob Bonner midway through the fourth quarter. The senior totaled 15 carries in the first half but, after missing the third quarter, he returned to score on just his third carry of the second half.

“It was still kind of hurting,” Bonner said, “but he said I was going in no matter what. I told him that I was going to score and I went out there and I scored.”

Bonner finished with 19 carries for 98 yards in the game, while senior quarterback Grant Mattias made crisp and accurate throws when he needed to. Mattias was 9-of-17 passing for 98 yards, with a key 14-yard strike to senior Brady Skidmore in the second quarter to cut Overfelt’s lead to 12-7.

“That was a nice little pass right up the seam,” Parodi said. “Their dude’s eyes just got a little lost and our dude was able to sneak behind him, and [Mattias] put it right on him, which was huge.”

The Knights (1-1) were plagued by several key penalties early, with an especially costly one coming at the end of their first possession.

With the Knights opening the game with the ball, they faced fourth-and-2 at the Overfelt 43-yard line. Hillsdale was looking to go for it when a false start penalty backed them up, prompting the punt team to run onto the field. The punt cost the Knights dearly as the line-drive kick was fielded at the 14 by Overfelt senior Junior Medina, and the speedy return man veered to the right side before cutting back toward the middle to go 86 yards for the touchdown, staking the Cowboys to a 6-0 lead.

“There’s so many things going on but I think, with little penalties, little things — we had mental mistakes all over the place on both sides of the ball,” Parodi said. “But any little thing that causes you to be second-and-long, third-and-long makes life hard. ... So, even little things with linemen or guys pulling the wrong way. Just little things like that, they all accumulate. ... So, I think if we can fix some of that stuff, we’ll see how it rolls from here.”

After a Hillsdale three-and-out, Overfelt went back on the march. This time, the Knights stopped Medina’s punt return at the Cowboys’ 28, but sophomore quarterback Blake Dungca led his team on a nine-play, 72-yards scoring drive.

Facing second-and-29 deep in his own territory, Dungca legged 21 yards on a keeper, and sophomore running back Kinaree Miangchanh followed with a 20-yard run to pick up the first down. Three plays later, Overfelt notched another third-down pickup when Dungca completed a 31-yard pass to sophomore Darryn Garcia on a crisp loft pass up the right sideline. Garcia was in tight 1-on-1 coverage, so tight that the defender drew the yellow flag for pass interference. But Garcia came down with the catch anyway, the Cowboys declined the penalty, and three plays later, No. 44 slammed it into the end zone for a 4-yard score to put Overfelt up 12-0 with 3:39 to play in the first quarter.

That’s when the Hillsdale defense turned the tide, led by junior defensive ends Tut Mason and Kar Andorian, who were breathing down the necks of Overfelt’s quarterbacks the rest of the night.

“Our defense played really, really well,” Parodi said, “once we calmed down after the initial weather-the-storm of the punt and all that stuff.”

Overfelt (0-1) rode junior quarterback Eric Plascencia in the second half. Plascencia and Dungca traded possessions in the first half, but a knee injury sidelined Dungca after the break.

Then came Hillsdale’s second half blitzing flurry, which set up Hillsdale’s game-winning drive. With Overfelt first-and-10 from its own 36, Plascencia recovered a fumbled first-down snap for a loss of seven yards. Then junior linebacker Jesus Ramirez Marroquin blitzed on second down to force Plascencia to throw the ball away, and on third down Andonian batted a pass to force a punt.

The Knights took over via punt at their own 45-yard line, and used 12 plays to reach the end zone. Junior running back Maximus Miller (13 carries, 51 yards) saw a majority of the rushing reps in the second half, and took consecutive carries of 3, 11, 9, 5, 1 and 8 yards to open the drive. Then, after a clutch 4-yard pass from Mattias to senior Nicco Davis on fourth-and-4 to the Cowboys’ 4-yard line to move the chains, Bonner reentered the game.

Bonner needed three tries to break the plane, but on third-and-goal from the 1, the senior slammed through the middle.

“We knew they were going to run up the middle,” Overfelt head coach Alan Plascencia said. “But they’ve got a good team right there. Their o-line is really big and stout. We tried our best, but it was a short-yard situation and our guys tried to step up. But they just got the better of us. We’ll get them next time though.”

Hillsdale outgained Overfelt 245-146 in total offense.

Alan Plascencia, 24, was coaching in his first varsity game. He is in his fifth year of coaching high school football, but took over the Overfelt program this season. The Cowboys took a bye last week, making Friday’s trip to Hillsdale their season opener.

Overfelt had two possessions after the Knights jumped ahead, advancing past midfield on both. Late in the game, the Cowboys moved it to Hillsdale’s 35 on a 12-yard pass from Eric Plascencia to Muangchanh. But with no timeouts, and the game clock winding below a minute, Hillsdale junior Jackson Griggs ended Overfelt’s comeback bid with an interception.

“I’m just doing my job,” Griggs said. “I was just where I was supposed to be at the right time, and then they threw it and I got it.”