CONCORD, Calif. – Visiting Monte Vista-Danville took the opening kickoff and marched 68 yards in eight plays capped by a 33-yard TD pass from senior Jack Stewardson to senior Jacob Oliphant that gave the Mustangs a 7-0 lead they would never relinquish in a hard fought 31-21 victory over Clayton Valley-Concord.
The result assures Prep2Prep CIF North Coast Section No. 4 Monte Vista of no worse than a tie for the East Bay Athletic League - Mountain Division championship De La Salle is ineligible to win.
Stewardson passed for 150 yards and three first half touchdowns including a 20-yard TD pass to Connor Shay with 20.9 seconds left in the first half that gave Monte Vista a 28-6 lead.
“We wanted to take chances early and get up on them, and then slow it down a little bit,” Monte Vista Coach Matt Russi said. “They’re a really good team and took some things away from us defensively and had a good idea of what we were doing which made it tough for us, so we had to change some things up.”
“I told the team before the game before the game we had to keep the ball and score on big plays,” continued Russi.
While several players shined for Monte Vista, it was the big three that have been most of the props this season, Stewardson, Oliphant and senior standout Nate Rutchena, that came up with the big plays.
“We’ve got great players across the board,” Russi remarked. “A really good, hard-nosed, tough group of kids that enjoy playing a game like this and don’t get rattled.”
Against Clayton Valley the Mustangs had to be tough and maintain their cool. After his TD catch that opened the scoring, Oliphant took a huge but legal hit, but stayed in the game. Stewardson was flushed from the pocket, was a so-so 19-of-32 on passes, took a sack and threw one interception, but when he needed to the Mustangs signal caller got the job done.
The real Mustangs star was Rutchena. It was like he was everywhere and just seems to have a nose for the football. Rutchena, who has offers from Cal and several other D1 college programs, came up huge on both sides of the ball.
After a 32-yard punt return by Oliphant, Rutchena scored on a 19-yard pass from Stewardson that gave Monte Vista a 14-6 lead. On the TD catch Rutchena stretched out and fumbled, but the ball was already a half yard into the end zone. Then, in an incredible sequence that saw three touchdowns scored in the last 1:21 of the first half, Rutchena started the scoring spree by recovering a fumble forced by Shay, and then getting a 28-yard scoop and score that increased the lead to 21-6. Rutchena also had 17 tackles with three for loss.
“Good reaction to the plays, watching film throughout the week, watching their lineman pull and sprinting to the ball,” answered Rutchena about seeming to be in all the right places on defense.
With the Shay touchdown that gave Monte Vista a 22-point lead, it would have been easy for Clayton Valley to tank, but the Ugly Eagles refused to fold. A 65-yard return on the ensuing kickoff by Omari Taylor set up a 22-yard TD run and 2-point conversion by Rayshawn Jackson that cut it to 28-14 with 1.7 seconds left in the half.
Clayton Valley got to within a touchdown on a 26-yard run by Seth Gwynn to make it 28-21 with 2:38 left in the third but from there three fourth quarter drives ended with failed fourth down conversions and a 20-yard field goal by Monte Vista's Nathan Price closed out the scoring.
Jackson led Clayton Valley (5-4, 1-3) with 69 yards rushing and two TDs on 21 carries from the wildcat formation. Besides the one TD Gwynn had 64 yards rushing. When Clayton Valley did throw they had little success. Junior quarterback Jake Kern was 5-of-18 for 67 yards with 33 of them coming on one pass, he was sacked three times and fumbled once for 28 yards in losses.
Monte Vista now must face cross-town arch rival San Ramon Valley with a win getting them the league title and firmly securing the No. 4 seed in the NCS Division 1 playoffs.
“We’ve got to go out and play good football next week, execute, play really hard and not make any mistakes because they play us tough every year,” Russi said. “It’s the old cliché about rivalries and throwing the records out.”
To add fuel to the rivalry P2P NCS No. 16 San Ramon Valley will be coming off a 24-21 victory at No. 8 California-San Ramon.
Prep2Prep NCS No. 9 Clayton Valley is in the playoffs but it’s almost assuredly going to be with a 5-5 record after they meet De La Salle next Friday and whether the seeding committee will see fit to make them the top seed in Division 2 remains to be seen.
