Perfect season out of reach for Sequoia

Sequoia head coach Rob Poulos was adamant his team had already punched its ticket to the postseason, having clinched no less that second place in the B-league El Camino Division last weeks with a blowout of Santa Clara.

“We knew we were in before this game,” Poulos said. “Winning last week, we knew we were in the playoffs. But we’ve been trying to talk to the kids about how you approach things. So, we told them: ‘Look, for four weeks we’ve been talking about how you play someone on the way to the next person. Nothing changed. It’s a league title. You’re always going to remember that if you get it. But we’re also still in the playoffs.’ … So, they’re not so caught up on living and dying with a one-game situation. They are now 8-1. There are worse things in life than being 8-1.”

But the defeat was palpable on the Sequoia sideline as the game’s final seconds wound down. The Ravens had their chances, recovering two TKA fumbles in the red zone in the first half.

Sequoia (4-1, 8-1) simply had trouble moving the ball. The Knights outgained the Ravens 336-303 in total yards, but the air attack was stifled as quarterback John Larios, despite gaining 159 total yards, was just 6-of-15 passing for 74 yards. He also committed two crucial turnovers, a first-half fumble and a backbreaker second-half interception.

“Their defense was ready,” Larios said. “They knew what we were going to run and were kind of stopping that stuff. So, I would look back, try to see someone open, and I would try to make something happen. But that would also kind of be my downfall when I had that fumble.”

Amid a scoreless tie in the first quarter, TKA committed the game’s first turnover on an exciting play. Knights receiver Pat Vasavakul advanced a pass from Reid Black inside the 20 on a 32-yard haul, but the ball was stripped at the end of the run and Sequoia’s Luke Holmes came up with the fumble.

The Ravens went on the move, with Larios scrambling for gains of 14 and 9 yards. But his third attempt to scramble up the field ended in a costly fumble, giving TKA the ball at the Sequoia 43-yard line. Nine plays later, the Knights pounded it in on a QB sneak by Reid to go up 7-0.

The score stayed that way until the second half, when TKA and Sequoia traded touchdowns in the third quarter. The Ravens’ offense was reborn when junior running back Luke Ulrich came out with a head of steam. He finished with 17 carries for 117 yards, with 91 of those yards coming in the second half.

“We’ve made some big plays, and sometimes you start thinking that’s the only thing that will hit it,” Poulos said. “And we had to regather and say: ‘Look, early, quick running plays before they had a chance to rally were effective. And counterplays were effective. Let’s get back to that and not rely so much on the quarterback scrambling.’”

Ulrich’s carried of 3, 17, 6, 9 and 4 yards set up Sequoia’s first touchdown, a 1-yard blast by junior Tony Veimau to cut TKA’s lead to 13-7.

But after the Knights answered right back with a quick-strike seven-play drive, capped by a 14-yard keeper by Black for a score to make it 21-7, the death knell sounded on the Ravens’ unbeaten season.

Larios was intercepted two plays later. He had just completed a 16-yard pass to Jack Elgaaen to near midfield. But another look over the middle saw TKA safety Miles Clarke find himself in the right place at the right time — he was covering another receiver crossing in front of Larios’s intended target, putting him right in front of the mark when the ball arrived to nab his first career interception.

“I had help over top,” Clarke said. “I saw the tight end release, he was coming across the field, I look up and the ball was in my hands. I don’t know what happened.”

TKA took over at the Sequoia 39 and turned it around for a six-play scoring march, capped by Black’s fourth score of the game, a 13-yard touchdown pass to Tylek Barnett. Black finished 17-of-22 passing for 164 yards and two touchdowns and ran six times for 33 yards and two more scores.

Sequoia scored its final touchdown with 1:05 to play, a 9-yard keeper from Larios.

Poulos credited TKA with containing Larios’ rushing game after he had some big gains early, a facet he pointed to as coming from the Knights having played in the PAL Bay Division last season.

“They did a good job of spying him once he burnt them early,” Poulos said. “That’s Bay level experience there. They made good adjustments early, they made very few mistakes, and we’ve been preaching that to our players. The difference — I’ve been in all three leagues — there’s a lot less mistakes when you climb. A lot less mistakes.”

The Ravens are now done with league play. They will close out the regular season next week competing for the Terremere Trophy in a non-league rivalry matchup at home against Carlmont.

“We’re going to flush this game,” Larios said. “Obviously it was a hard game, but we’re going to just keep trying to win, trying to keep going hard. That’s all we can control.”