Woodside tops El Camino to take outright control in PAL Lake Division football standings

Friday night, Usher blew that performance out of the water. In leading the Wildcats (4-0 PAL Lake, 4-2 overall) to an exciting 41-32 victory over El Camino in a battle for first place in the Peninsula Athletic League Lake Division at Bradley Field, the sophomore carried 28 times for 255 yards and three touchdowns.

“It means so much,” Usher said of the win. “But it’s halfway through our season, we’re nowhere near done, and we’re going to keep competing with the same level of intensity. We’re not slowing down. This is just the beginning.”

Woodside and El Camino (2-1, 3-3) entered the game as the last two teams with undefeated records in PAL Lake play. The win lifts the Wildcats into sole possession of first place in a division with just one guaranteed Central Coast Section playoff bid going to the eventual PAL Lake champion.

And the Wildcats had to do it without head coach Justin Andrews, who was serving a one-game suspension for an ejection late in last week’s blowout win over South City. Woodside defensive coordinator Josh Bowie served as interim head coach. Bowie was the head coach at Woodside from 2012-13 and returned to the program this season as an assistant coach.

“You take a look at the kid, he’s something,” Bowie said of the 6-foot, 180-pound Usher. “He works his tail off in practice every single day. And he’s young, he just wants to contribute any way possible. … All he wants to do is go out there and play hard.”

El Camino running back Antonio Arenas did not disappoint either. The senior carried 19 times for 128 yards and a touchdown, along a gritty 48-yard reception on a short screen pass, and a 65-yard scoop-and-score on a first-half fumble.

But it was the aerial attack that got the Colts back in the game in the second half. Woodside led 34-20 at halftime and was driving late in the third quarter with tempo. But when El Camino safety Jeffrey Gamboa hauled in an interception on a long, lofty third-down pass by Kyle Cortes, the Colts took the momentum and ran with it.

After a big 56-yard scramble by Colts quarterback Gabe Rocha, followed by a 22-yard run by Arenas, El Camino scored on a 10-yard jet sweep by senior receiver Manual Deanda. The Colts’ defense then forced a three-and-out, and four plays later Rocha connected with Gamboa for a 35-yard touchdown pass, on a play that saw receiver James Stam draw the safety allowing Gamboa to split the defense and get all alone over the middle to cut Woodside’s lead to 34-32.

“It was a perfect play,” Stam said.

But the ensuing 2-point conversion attempt was not so perfect, as the Colts fumbled their chance to tie it. Woodside was unforgiving, using the next possession to drive 57 yards on eight plays, capped by a 4-yard scoring dive by Usher.

“We knew they were a good football team, we knew we had to stop their big play, but they were able to get them,” Bowie said. “They were able to make big plays. We learned a lot about ourselves today too. We learned that we have some things we need to clean up as a football team — defensively, I’m talking from that perspective — but I’m so damn proud of the heart that we showed, and the grit, and we just kept fighting. It just makes for good football.”

Usher opened the game with a bang, breaking off a 69-yard scoring run behind a key pulling block to put the Wildcats up 7-0. El Camino answered back with a 10-play, 80-yard drive, culminating in a 1-yard score by Arenas. But El Camino had problems with its conversion plays from the outset, and a missing point-after try left the Wildcats leading 7-6.

The teams traded scores again, with Woodside fullback Elijah Flor finding the end zone on a 6-yard score to make it 14-6. The Colts turned right back around and scored on a 79-yard pass from Rocha to Deanda; but a 2-point conversion attempt failed, leaving the Wildcats up 14-12.

Woodside upped it to 27-12, scoring on its next two possessions — a 13-yard carry by Oliver Lyssand, following by an electrifying 64-yard pass from Cortes to Andrew Nordgren — and were looking to score again when a Wildcats fumble resulted in Arenas recovering and motoring 65 yards for a score to get the Colts back in it at 27-20. The Wildcats scored once more before halftime on a 4-yard run by Usher.

But when the Colts took the ball back with 55 seconds, they nearly made some magic. A quick 48-yard screen pass to Arenas moved it across midfield. Arenas followed with a 22-yard run, and four plays later, El Camino was at the Woodside 1-yard line with one second remaining in the half. That’s when the Wildcats’ goal-line defense delivered a clutch stop, as junior linebacker Mason Furtado sniffed out a QB keeper and stopped it behind the line of scrimmage as time expired.

The Colts had another chance late in the game. Trailing by 9, El Camino again picked up big yards, with Rocha hitting Stam for a 26-yard pass to cross midfield.

But two plays later controversy ensued when Rocha aired it out for Stam in the middle of the field. Stam made a valiant leap in a sea of Woodside jerseys and appeared to catch the ball. But by the time he hit the ground and the play was whistled down, Lyssand, the Woodside safety, came away with it on a pivotal interception with 2:12 to go in regulation.

Or was it? Not according to Stam, who said, unequivocally, he had possession when he hit the ground.

“I came down with the ball and hit the floor with a bounce,” Stam said. “I had possession of the ball, and the ball was taken from me when I was on the floor. That’s a great game, we had a dogfight with Woodside … but from the rules that I know, I think that is a catch.”

El Camino still would have had its backs up against the wall, needing to score twice in just over two minutes.

“I had that in my head, but it’s football, you never know,” Stam said. “If we score on that drive after that, we could have recovered an onsides. So, I hate having to do: ‘What if they gave me that catch?’”