SEBASTOPOL, CA – In a wild Friday night affair that had eight lead changes and two ties, including 14-14 at halftime, quarterback Jack Newman found Spence Vogel for a 34-yard touchdown pass with 3:18 left to give the hosts a 35-31 advantage, and NCS Division III top-seeded Analy (11-1) had the lead for good in a 42-31 victory over No. 8 seed El Cerrito.
Newman, a 6-1, 180-pound senior, finished 24-for-32 for 340 yards and five touchdowns, including three to Ross Simmons.
Newman did take some real punishment as he was sacked five times and fumbled twice. Three of the sacks and both forced fumbles were by El Cerrito’s 6-7, 318-pound Aaron Banks, a senior two-way lineman with over 30 major D1 offers. The other two sacks were by his so-called little brother Frankie Banks, a 6-2, 320-pound sophomore.
The teams traded turnovers early before Analy scored first on an 8-yard pass from Newman to Bennett Simpson.
Just like they had traded turnovers to start the game the teams started trading scores since from there on neither team would score twice in-a-row until the final moments. In fact, three combined scores came in a span of just under three minutes.
El Cerrito (8-4) answered with a 28-yard run by Lanique Wilkes (118 yards rushing, one TD) for the games first tie at 7-apiece. When Analy responded with a 21-yard TD pass from Newman to Simmons it was 14-7 after one quarter.
El Cerrito went to a ground game that had Aaron Banks in motion as a lead blocker and the result was they ran off 25 plays in the second quarter on two long drives to five for Analy, but the first drive was stopped at the goal line on a tackle by Analy’s Toren Callison, while the second one knotted things at 14-14 for the half on a 3-yard pass from Devoreah Allen to Damon Cole.
The visiting Gauchos took their first lead at 17-14 on a 26-yard field goal by Erich Fenczik. Analy retook the lead on an 18-yard pass from Newman to Simmons, but El Cerrito exploded back to take the lead on a 60-yard run by Taariq Linear that made it 24-21 Gauchos to begin the fourth quarter.
The host Tigers went back in front 28-24 when Newman and Simmons connected a third time on a 29-yard pass with 9:39 left but El Cerrito still had one punch left and took a final 31-28 lead when Allen scored on a 2-yard keeper but unfortunately for the Gauchos faithful that was their final tally.
Analy took the lead for good and it was all Newman. Not known as a runner he finished with a season high 74 yards and the 20 biggest of those came on the first play of the winning drive that got the ball to the El Cerrito 45 yard line, and despite running for 35 yards on the previous drive that stalled this scamper took the Gauchos by surprise.
After an offside penalty Newman found Eric Bendyk for a short gain and followed that up the scoring strike to Vogel in which the senior wide receiver made a tough catch going to the ground.
El Cerrito got the ball back with 3:13 left but a 19-yard holding penalty backed them up deep in their own territory and when Anthony Lepori sacked Allen at the 15 yard line the ball rolled backward into the end zone where Jackson Parks fell on it for the game’s final score
An unsung hero for Analy was Parks. Last year he shared kicking duties with Newman but this year had been supplanted by a player who opted out for soccer and Newman. Pressed into action his kickoffs were deep, he made all six PATs, and the 6-2, 215-pound junior that is also a two-way lineman can now say he scored a touchdown.
Vogel had a team high seven receptions for 110 yards and the one score
For El Cerrito Allen finished 14-for-26 passing for 216 yards and one TD and the one score rushing.
As for Newman, he now has gone over 4,000 yards and will go into next week having passed for 4,020 yards and an even 50 touchdowns.
Analy advances to the semifinals and hosts the winner of the Saturday afternoon Miramonte-Orinda at Marin Catholic-Kentfield contest.
