M-A stunned in closing minutes

With M-A (0-1, 3-2) possessing the ball near midfield, quarterback Xander Eschelman tried a backward pass that was batted by Los Gatos linebacker Henry Masters. The play looked like an incomplete pass, so most everyone stopped playing, except for Masters. The senior scooped it up and returned it unimpeded to the end zone as all on M-A’s side of the field at Coach Parks Field looked on, stunned.

“That’s one we’re going to want back and it’s an unfortunate way that the difference was made in this game,” M-A head coach Chris Saunders said. “But we were doing stuff like that all night, and it was creating some opportunities for us. So, it’s unfortunate when a team plays this hard that a miscue will lead to six points. But that’s what happens when you play really good, playoff caliber football.”

It took defensive end Devin Hyde and the M-A defense a quarter and half to get a handle on Los Gatos’ uptempo Wing-T offense. Once the Bears settled in, though, they kept the Wildcats offense off the board for the final 30 minutes of play.

Hyde said the big turning point wasn’t a tactical one, but an emotional one. M-A defensive end Jayden Delafuente suffered a terrifying injury with a minute to go in the first half.

“We knew coming into this game this was going to be arguably the toughest opponent we had yet,” Hyde said. “So, we knew: ‘We’ve got to come out here and we’ve got to play like dawgs.’ After Jayden went down, a lot of us, we had that moment where we had to make a decision to worry about our teammate and tone it down, or play for our teammate. And we came out, immediately had a shot at the end zone, didn’t get it in. And we came back in the second half and we carried that momentum.”

It was Hyde who barreled into Delafuente on a Los Gatos running play that was stopped at the line of scrimmage. Delafuente crumbled to the turf and lie motionless for the next 15 minutes until paramedics arrived to stabilize his neck and carry him from the field by ambulance.

“He’s been taken to Stanford,” Saunders said immediately following the game. “I haven’t had an update yet, but when he left he was moving his hands and his feet. So, in those kinds of situations, the most immediate signs were positive.”

The Los Gatos offense opened the night with a seven-play, 69-yard scoring drive. After forcing an M-A punt, the Wildcats took over at the 3 and quickly moved into the red zone, largely due to a 34-yard keeper from senior quarterback Scotty Brennan, with a 15-yard horse collar penalty tagged on to the end of it to put the ball at the Bears’ 11. Four plays later, Los Gatos punched it in on fourth-and-goal from the 2 on a second effort that saw Grayson Doslak tumble over the goal line for the score.

The Wildcats killed M-A’s second possession with a fourth-down sack from senior linebacker RJ Cannon, giving them the ball back at their own 33. Brennan again chewed off a big chunk of yards, this time on a 36-yard pass downfield with Cam Thomas fixed under it to win the jump ball at the Bears’ 6. Two plays later, Brennan sneaked it in to give Los Gatos a 14-0 lead midway through the second quarter.

It was the last points the M-A defense would surrender.

“We settled in,” Saunders said. “They go quick out of the huddle. So, it’s one of those things you’ve just got to adjust to. They’re a good football team, but we settled in and just played our ball, and the defense played their heart out.”

M-A answered, with Eschelman and junior Teddy Dacey both showing off their QB chops.

Eschelman moved the sticks with a 34-yard pass to Angelo Marin. Two plays plater on second-and-12, Dacey hit Joshua Olsen on an 11-yard cross pattern, and Monty Turner then picked up the first on a 3-yard ramble to the Wildcats’ 18. A 9-yard pass from Eschelman to Marin gave M-A another first down at the 3. Then Eschelman scored it on a play-action keeper, with the senior lunging over the right side for the Bears’ first score of the night.

The Bears’ defense forced a turnover on downs to start the second half, and Eschelman quickly turned it into points. Facing third-and-11 from M-A’s 36, the senior sidewinding gunslinger found Marin on a quick out route, and Marin showed of his sprinter’s legs by outrunning two Los Gatos defenders for a 64-yard touchdown to tie it 14-14.

“I knew [Marin] was going to be open,” Eschelman said. “He’s a fast dude. So, I just got him the ball and let him work, and he’s a good athlete. That’s what he does.”

Hyde started breathing down Los Gatos’ neck from there. The 6-4 senior helped stifle Los Gatos’ next possession with a skillful tackle on third-and-2, nabbing a running back by the ankles for a 1-yard pickup to force fourth down. Then linebacker Evaimalo Ama pressured Brennan on fourth down, and crisp throw was broken up by Marin downfield to force a turnover on downs.

“They have a good pass rush, and [Hyde] is hell of a player; he’s all over the place,” Los Gatos head coach Mark Krail said. “So, we did what we had to do. Made some mistakes, obviously, and gave them some chances. But our defense played great all night long and really, really kept us in it.”

M-A took over near midfield, but went nowhere as Los Gatos contained a double pitch trick play and a QB keeper. After a three-and-out, Los Gatos gave the ball back on a botched punt play that gave the Bears the ball at the Wildcats’ 39. Once again the Los Gatos defense delivered, with junior safety Thomas nabbing an interception with 10:09 to play, the first turnover for either team.

Los Gatos moved the chains once, but punted again from its own 42. M-A took over with 5:18 to play and moved the chains on an 11-yard pass from Eschelman to senior tight end Jackson Harding.

Two plays later, however, the fumbled backward pass reared its head as Los Gatos’ defense scored the team’s only points of the second half.

“We definitely knew that during the week and coached up our guys,” Krail said. “[Masters] has got to be one of the smartest guys I’ve ever coached. He was jumping that swing pass ... and then he had the head enough to, after he dropped it, to pick it up and run. That’s a testament to his football intelligence. ... That was obviously the difference in the game.”

Eschelman finished 9-of-16 passing for 167 yards, one touchdown and two interceptions. His second pick was on M-A last-gasp effort in the closing minute of the game.

“We expected it to be a tough game,” Eschelman said. “So, we knew we might have to play from behind this week. I’m proud of our guys how we played coming back from that. To be honest, I take this loss on myself. Our guys battled tough.”