Hillsdale slips past Los Altos

And yet, the Knights left so much more out on the field, which had head coach Mike Parodi at his wit’s end following a much-closer-than-it-had-to-be 16-12 win over the Los Altos.

“We’re this close,” Parodi told his team in the post-game huddle, holding his thumb and pointer finger an inch apart.

“We could be 0-3 or 3-0 and we’re 2-1. We’ll take it,” Parodi said. “Wins are hard to come by.”

And the Knights made it harder on themselves. It took a little while for Hillsdale to find its groove, but when it did, it already trailed 6-0.

The teams played a scoreless first half and after forcing the Eagles to punt on the first play of the second quarter, Los Altos caught a break when the ball rolled out of bounds at the Hillsdale 1-yard line.

Three plays, later the Eagles were in the end zone. The Knights fumbled the ball away to Los Altos on the second play of the drive, with Drew Rafferty recovering it at the Knights’ 3. On the next play, Ben Bacchi punched it for the score. Hillsdale blocked the PAT and the Eagles settled for a 6-0 lead.

Hillsdale finally got its offense untracked after that. Starting the next drive on their own 16, the Knights turned to Luke Nessell, who played at Carlmont the last three years before transfering to Hillsdale at the start of summer.

Nessell had carries of 10, 17 and 6 yards early in the drive to help the offense find a rhythm. And when he picked his way through traffic and into the end zone from 13 yards out, it capped a nearly six-minute drive, that covered 84 yards on 13 plays. With Waugh’s extra point, the Knights had the lead for good, 7-6.

Nessell had 58 yards on that drive alone as he finished the night with 102 yards rushing on 27 carries. He also caught three passes for 59 more yards.

It’s great to have someone to get those heavy yards,” Parodi said.

The Knights kept their foot on the gas for the rest of the first half. The defense forced another punt, with Hillsdale taking over at its own 39.

Now it was time for senior quarterback Liam Smith to take over. He scampered for 11 yards on second-and-10 and then hooked up with Jordan Minihan for 11 yards.

Smith went to Minihan again on the next play, but the receiver could not bring the pass in and landed awkwardly on his ankle, requiring a trip to the hospital.

Smith found Nessell for a 15-yard gain on the next play before finding Jackson Sierra in the corner of the end zone, who won a jump ball for a touchdown and a 14-6 lead at halftime.

Smith had a solid showing for Hillsdale under center. The three-year starter completed 11-of-19 passes for 141 yards and a score. He also added 44 yards rushing on seven carries.

Things started well enough for the Knights in the second half, taking the third quarter kickoff and starting from their own 20, marching to the Los Altos 11 before the drive stall.

Waugh appeared to have connected on a 27-yard field goal, but it was wiped off the board because of a false start penalty.

The five yards proved to be crucial, as Waugh hit his 32-yard attempt wide left and Los Altos was still in the game.

The Eagles took advantage. Starting from its own 20, Los Altos picked up a trio of first downs through the air to move the ball to the Hillsdale 33.

Los Altos quarterback Noah Beeden then connected with Rafferty on a beautiful pitch-and-catch that went for a 33-yard touchdown. The Eagles failed on the 2-point conversion and trailed 14-12 with 2:03 left in the third.

Suddenly, the Hillsdale offense lost its mojo. The Knights ended up punting on their ensuing possession, but were bailed out when Waugh’s 46-yard punt pinned the Eagles at their own 2.

After a one-yard penalty, Los Altos attempted to run the ball out of trouble — but only ran into it. Elliott Regan stepped up and stopped the Los Altos running back in the end zone, driving him back before a host of Knights completed the tackle for a 2-point safety that gave them a little more breathing room, 16-12 with 9:57 to play.

The teams exchanged punts for the rest of the game, before Regan intercepted a last-gasp Los Altos pass to ice the win.

“We just have to play better,” Parodi said. “We could be pretty good, if we choose to.”