Road woes
Ontario watches 12-point lead disappear
By Ray Rodriguez
Argus Observer
Sunday, September 7, 2008 12:32 AM PDT
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| Ray rodriguez | Argus Observer
Members of the Ontario Tiger football team, (No. 66-Kevin Corn, No. 10-Tad Anzaldua and No. 79-Ethan Branom) walk off the Grant Union gridiron dejected as they watched a 12-point lead evaporate late in the fourth quarter, sending the Tigers to their first loss in 2008. Ontario fell to Grant Union 23-20 and droppedto 1-1 on the season. |
John Day—There are three phases to a football game — Offense, defense and special teams.
Do all three well and your team has a good chance at winning.
Friday evening in John Day, Ontario High School’s special teams unit let them down, in its 23-20 loss to Grant Union.
While the Tigers’ unit struggled, the Prospectors converted two special teams plays, and rebounded from a 20-8 deficit with two touchdowns in the final 2:32 to come away with the win.
“We talk about it every day. We talk about heart. When you play team sports, you got to have heart. I think it showed today,” Grant Union head coach Monty Nash said. “They were down, and I think the kids picked it up and made some things happen. We challenged some kids and they did the job.”
With 1:14 on the clock and faced with a fourth and 30 from their own 29-yard line, Ontario sent punter Tad Anzaldua and the punting unit on the field.
Anzaldua took the snap and faced a furious rush. Grant Union’s Connor Smith squirmed through the line, jumped high in the air for the block, scooped up the loose ball and was shoved out of bounds at the 3-yard line.
On second down-and-goal, Grant Union running back Jimmy Cook rumbled into the end zone for the score to give the Prospectors their first lead of the game, at 21-20 with 49.5 seconds on the clock.
Cook punched in the 2-point conversion and the Prospectors were out in front, 23-20.
All of the dramatics could have easily been avoided, however.
One play earlier, Anzaldua lofted a textbook punt which rolled all the way inside the Prospectors’ 20-yard line.
The Tiger sideline was jumping for joy and the road victory appeared to be well in hand.
Wait, hold everything — A flag was on the field.
Ontario penalty, illegal participation, 12-men on the field.
“On that penalty, that’s a mental mistake,” Ontario head coach Trever Wilson said. “We have to have the right personnel in there. We can’t be switching them around. We got to know who is on the special teams. That is just a mental mistake. There is no excuse for that.”
In fact, the special teams blunder was not the first.
With three minutes remaining, and faced with a fourth-and-11 from their own 34, Grant Union’s Cook converted a fake punt run, jolting down the left sideline for a 25-yard gain and new set of downs.
Four Plays later, Grant Union quarterback Austin Ranft fired a strike to receiver Dustin Lippert for a 30-yard touchdown, and the Prospectors were down 20-15 with 2:32 left.
Early on, the Tigers took control. Ontario’s Matt Anthony kicked off the scoring with 10:42 in the first quarter on a fumble recovery in the end zone. Jordan Lang’s extra-point was good and the Tigers led 7-0.
Grant Union regained the lead on its next drive, using a five play, 92-yard drive, taking only 1:42 off the clock.
Cook capped the drive, taking a 57-yard screen pass from Ranft to the house to draw the Prospectors to within a 7-6 deficit.
Cook added the 2-point conversion run and Grant Union led 8-7.
The Tigers answered right back on their next possession with a eight play, 51-yard drive, capped by a 1-yard plunge by Jake Turner. Turner’s score gave Ontario a 13-8 advantage after one quarter of play.
The score remained 13-8 at the half, and on their first drive of the second stanza, Ontario punched in another score.
The Tigers used nine plays and Anzaldua capped the drive with a 1-yard quarterback sneak. Lang’s extra-point kick gave the Tigers a 20-8 lead with 7:49 left in the third quarter.
Ontario had three additional second half possessions, held the ball for eight minutes and 50 seconds, gained 72 yards and could travel no further than Grant Union’s 36-yard line.
For the game, Ontario totaled 329 yards of offense. Anzaldua went 14-of-22 for 137 yards, and Frank Lopez led the ground game, rushing 20 times for 123 yards.
Wilson blamed the loss on a lack of intensity in practice.
“I told the team we didn’t lose this game tonight, we lost it on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday in practice,” Wilson said. “We played a lot tonight like we practiced, not very good.”
Ontario (1-1 overall) hosts undefeated Vale Friday.
———
Grant Union 23, Ontario 20
Ontario 13 0 7 0 — 20
Grant Union 8 0 0 15 — 23
SCORING SUMMARY
First Quarter
Ontario — Matt Anthony fumble recovery in end zone (Jordan Lang Kick). 10:42
Grant Union — Jimmy Cook 57 pass from Austin Ranft (Cook run). 9:00
Ontario — Jake Turner 1 run (Kick failed). 5:51
Second Quarter
No Scoring
Third Quarter
Ontario — Tad Anzaldua 1 run (Lang Kick). 7:49
Fourth Quarter
Grant Union — Dustin Lippert 30 pass from Ranft (Lippert Kick). 2:32
Grant Union — Cook 3 run (Lippert pass from Ranft). :49.5
TEAM STATISTICS
Ontario G.U.
First downs 17 16
Total Yards 329 296
Rushes-yards 39-170 37-160
Passing yards 159 138
Comp-Att-Int 15-24-0 9-20-0
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 1-1
Penalties-Yards 10-81 5-39
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Ontario, Anzaldua 6-(-8), Mejia 3-12, Lopez 20-123, Turner 10-43; Grant Union, Ranft 6-(-20), Cook 11-80, Murray 8-62, Martin 11-41, Kowing 1-(-3).
PASSING — Ontario, Anzaldua 14-22-0—137 yards, Mejia 1-2-0—22 yards; Grant Union, Ranft 8-18-0—129 yards, Martin 0-1-0—0 yards, Lippert 1-1-0—9 yards.
RECEIVING — Ontario, Mejia 1-4, Lopez 1-(-2), Turner 4-69, Paulsen 1-6, Keyes 4-41, Martinez 3-32, Garza 1-9; Grant Union, Ranft 1-9, Cook 1-57, Martin 2-30, Lippert 2-37, Witty 1-(-4), Smith 2-9.
Not funny wrote on Sep 9, 2008 9:58 AM:
Sore loser?? "