The Castle Park Trojans are 3-1 but it easily could be 2-1-1 or worse. “San Ysidro played their butts off,” CP coach Hans Graham said in regard to last Friday’s 21-14 victory over the visiting Cougars. “It was crunch time. It came down to the last play.”
Poised at the one-yard line, San Ysidro (1-3) appeared to be driving for the game-tying touchdown in the waning seconds of the teams’ non-league encounter. But the Cougars fumbled the ball, with a Trojan defender eventually gathering in the loose ball and sprinting 80 yards the other way.
“I thought our guy was going all the way at first but then he ran out of gas,” Graham said. “On the next play, we took a knee. Game over.”
All this drama transpired in the game’s final 40 seconds
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Castle Park held leads in the game on three occasions while the Cougars fought back twice to tie the contest. Jamar Shelby scored two touchdowns to lead the Trojans, who host the unbeaten Rock Academy (4-0) this Friday at 7 p.m.
Shelby scored on a 51-yard run to kick off scoring in the match-up and later helped give his team at 14-7 lead on a one-yard TD run.
SY signal-caller David Vega passed 27 yards to Cristian Garcia and later called his own number on a one-yard run to tie the game in the third quarter.
Castle Park scored the lone touchdown of the final quarter as Paul Sierra dashed in from 23 yards.
Vega had a standout game for the losing Cougars with 240 passing yards while also rushing for 58 yards. Chandler Tarrant caught five passes for 95 yards, including one 37-yard gain. Sammy Quinones had seven catches for 73 yards.
San Ysidro’s defense kept it in the game. Christian Zambrano had one interception and one fumble recovery while Fidel Gonzalez also recovered a fumble. Pablo Jimenez and Gonzalez led the Cougars with 17 and 16 tackles, respectively.
The Rock Academy is coming off a 25-0 win against Crean Lutheran and earlier this season clipped Southwest 34-27.
Hilltop sinks Bucs’ ship 28-14
Omar Hernandez passed for 162 yards and Trey Ventura rushed for 63 yards to lead the visiting Hilltop Lancers to a 28-14 non-league victory at defending San Diego Section Division IV champion Mission Bay last Friday afternoon.
The Lancers scored on their first offensive play of the game as Hernandez passed 52 yards to Greg Allen. Hilltop went up 14-0 as Ventura later bounced off would-be tacklers for a 54-yard scoring run. Hernandez made the score 21-0 at halftime on a one-yard sneak and Ruben Maldonado (8 carries, 38 yards) scored on a five-yard run in the third quarter as the visitors went ahead 28-0.
The Bucs (0-3) scored two late TDs — one on a 46-yard run by Anthony Magee and another on a 15-yard pass from Nate Long to Chris Byrd.
The Lancers amassed 308 total offensive yards while holding Mission Bay to 98 passing yards and 87 rushing yards. Mark McGuire had three catches for 60 yards and Christian Luna made four successful PAT conversions for Hilltop, which has a bye this week.
Southwest tops Rough Riders
Lamar Weston threw for 174 yards and Pierre Davis rushed for 271 yards as the visiting Raiders (3-1) racked up a staggering 497 yards in total offense while hanging a 36-6 defeat on the California Military Institute in a non-league game played in Perris. Weston threw two scoring passes to Marcus Gladden (four catches, 124 yards) and also rushed for one score while Davis scored twice on runs. Southwest controlled the line of scrimmage with 323 rushing yards.
Ramona 27, Otay Ranch 26
The host Bulldogs (4-0) rallied with 13 unanswered fourth quarter points to remain undefeated. “What killed us is that we had three turnovers inside the 30-yard-line,” Otay Ranch coach Anthony Lacsina said. “We felt we should have won and could have won.”
More details to follow
Prep Scoreboard
Friday, Sept. 24
•Hilltop 28, Mission Bay 14
•Eastlake 20, Steele Canyon 17
•Olympian 23, Bonita Vista 21
•Castle Park 21, San Ysidro 14
•Southwest 36, California Military Institute (Perris) 6
•Ocean View Christain Academy 35, Liberty Christian (HB) 6
•Kuyper Prep 58, Ojai Valley 12
•Ramona 27, Otay Ranch 26
•Orange Glen 28, Montgomery 27
•Crespi (Encino) 52, Chula Vista 6
•St. Joseph (Santa Maria) 48, Mater Dei Catholic 0
Saturday, Sept. 25
•Bishop’s 20, Mar Vista 12
