Terra Nova football champs once again

Austin Snead did it all as Terra Nova (4-0 PAL El Camino, 6-2 overall) rolled to a 42-6 victory Friday night over Santa Clara at Coach Bill Gray Field. The senior two-way standout totaled 22 carries for 158 yards and a touchdown out of the backfield, while on defense recording a fumble recovery and an interception.

“It was a big game,” Snead said. “We haven’t won league in 12 years. So, I just came out, was fired up, ready to win.”

With the win, Terra Nova clinches no worse than a shared championship in the Peninsula Athletic League El Camino Division. It marks the first PAL title for the Tigers since running the table in the PAL Bay Division in 2013. The only team in the league that can still catch Terra Nova in the standings is Los Altos, as the Eagles kept pace one game back in the standings with a 9-0 win Thursday night over Fremont-Sunnyvale.

Having already defeated Los Altos earlier in the season, Terra Nova clinches the top postseason seed out of the El Camino Division. But taking care of business it next week’s final league game at Gunn-Palo Alto is still paramount, as Lotti is intent on wrapping up the PAL El Camino title outright.

“Yes, very much so,” Lotti said.

Terra Nova took advantage of an early Santa Clara turnover to set the tone, something that has plagued the Bruins all season.

“We’ve turned the ball over too much for various reasons,” Santa Clara head coach Nelson Gifford said.

The Tigers’ opening possession stalled just short of midfield, but they got the ball back on a fortuitous punt play as Santa Clara fumbled the reception with Snead recovering at the Bruins’ 35-yard line.

“It definitely changed the momentum,” Lotti said. “It went from: ‘Oh, they just stopped us,’ to: ‘No, we’ve got the ball back. Let’s finish the drive.’”

Terra Nova tried to give it away on the following play, but quarterback Joey Donati would not be denied. The senior, after fumbling the shotgun snap, raced to the sideline to wrestle it away from a Santa Clara player who had gotten to the spot first.

“It was a little wet, we had a new center this week, and so he did great up until one or two bad snaps,” Lotti said. “When you’ve got a new center in there, that’s going to happen.”

The Tigers stayed on the ground, with Snead pounding three runs of 17, 12 and 9 yards. Then on second-and-1 from the 2, Donati dove for the end zone and, as the ball was jarred loose, Santa Clara initially celebrated recovering it — but the referees conferred and ruled Donati was in the end zone before losing the handle on the ball, awarding the touchdown to Terra Nova.

Terra Nova’s defense produced a quick stop, and stifled a fake punt from the Tigers’ 36 to take over on downs. Snead quickly flipped the field with a 42-yard carry. Then, after a 13-yard pass from Donati to senior Dylan Wood, and a 7-yard Donati keeper to the 2, the Tigers had two runs stopped cold before deciding to go for it on fourth-and-goal from the 1. Donati cashed in, taking a QB keeper wide around the right side for a touchdown score, staking Terra Nova to a 14-0 lead in the opening minute of the second quarter.

After the Tigers possessed the ball for 9 minutes, 36 seconds of the first quarter, Santa Clara finally found its sea legs on offense in the second. The Bruins marched downfield with a third-down pickup on a 27-yard pass from quarterback Damian Lopez to Nolan Gallo. Then on fourth-and-1 from the Tigers’ 24, Lopez rushed it 2 yards to move the sticks. But two plays later, Lopez took aim over the middle, but misfired into the hands of Terra Nova’s Snead, the safety, who intercepted to put the Tigers back on the attack.

“I was playing center field pretty much, just dropped back, saw the route coming in ... jumped it, picked it — interception,” Snead said.

Terra Nova responded with a quick six-play, 86-yard scoring drive, capped by a dazzling post pass over the middle from Donati to junior Isaiah Birch Corona for a 65-yard touchdown with 3:04 to play in the half. And the Tigers weren’t done as, after stop — with the Tigers defending another fake punt on fourth down — Donati finished the half by airing it out up the sideline for Wood, who was in tight 1-on-1 coverage near the goal line. But he leapt back toward the ball, over the defender, and hauled it in for a 40-yard scoring catch to send the Tigers into halftime with a 28-0 lead.

Donati went on to complete 5 of 8 passes for 156 yards, two touchdowns and one interception.

“I think we have probably the best quarterback in the league by far,” Snead said. “Joey’s big, can throw it, he’s got an arm. He’s everything.”

Santa Clara (1-2, 3-5) used senior running back Joseph Manueli to get on the board to open the second half. Manueli has missed much of the season after going down in Week 2. He returned last week for the Bruins’ dramatic 28-27 overtime win over South City. Against Terra Nova, he carried 16 times for 94 yards, including a 28-yard touchdown gallop three minutes into the second half.

“This game back ... he exploded,” Gifford said. “He was phenomenal. Just did a great job for us. So, I was really, really excited to do that.”

But Terra Nova put the game away with two fourth-quarter scores. A brilliant punt by Donati pinned Santa Clara at its 1-yard line and, on the next play, the Tigers recovered a fumble at the 1. It set up a 1-yard score by Snead, who goose-stepped around the left side.

Then, after a Santa Clara three-and-out, Terra Nova entered sophomore quarterback Robbie Johnson into the game. The left-hander opened with a 32-yard strike over the middle to junior Holden Najar, and Snead followed with a 32-yard run to the Bruins’ 3. Three plays later, Johnson connected with Birch Corona for a 5-yard TD pass.

The final three minutes of the game were played to a running clock.

Terra Nova outgained Santa Clara 380-232 in total yards. Birch Corona had two catches for 70 yards and two TDs, while Wood added two catches for 53 yards and one TD.