SAN JOSE — Tyler Hawkins ran for 235 yards on Thursday night, and a tackle by Victor Alvarez that thwarted what would have been a game-tying two-point conversion in the final as the Willow Glen Rams held on for a 17-15 win over the Silver Creek Raiders in a BVAL Santa Teresa game that was crucial for both teams’ playoff hopes.
With both sides entering the game at 3-2 on the season and playing in a league where only the top two teams are guaranteed playoff berths, a win was vital to have a shot at an automatic bid and was much-needed to improve chances for an at-large trip to the postseason, and behind Hawkins’ legs and a defense that hardly wavered until the final minutes and then made clutch plays down the stretch, it was the host Rams that came out on top.
Hawkins did all of this despite a knee injury that had been bothering him throughout the week. Though he said a stabbing pain persisted during Thursday’s win, it hardly seemed like it as he appeared to get stronger and stronger as the game went on.
“I felt pretty confident with my running style and the blockers ahead of me,” he said. “If they got me through the first level, I could get through the second and third.”
Though he had a couple of dances down the sideline, most of his production came on handoffs up the middle, something Hawkins credited to his increased training regimen.
“Before this year, I was very slow in comparison to our other guys,” he said. “I’ve been able to work on my speed, and I went from 155 to 175 by lifting every day in the summer. I got bigger and just thought, ‘I can run over you.’”
Willow Glen (4-2, 2-1) actually led 17-0 after a 40-yard touchdown run by Hawkins on the first play of the second quarter, but never scored again despite multiple opportunities, allowing Silver Creek to get back into the game.
“We didn’t finish in the second half offensively,” said Willow Glen head coach Oscar Caballero. “We challenged our offense at halftime to finish the game, but our defense did most of the finishing.”
A 21-yard field goal try early in the fourth quarter that would have restored a two-score lead was blocked, and though the Rams forced a three-and-out, Hawkins had a 42-yard touchdown run called back on the following drive and a fumble on a bad snap killed the drive in the red zone. After Silver Creek (3-3, 0-3) was forced to punt yet again, Willow Glen drove down to the 29 but turned it over on downs with 2:20 left after an incompletion on fourth-and-4, giving the Raiders one final chance.
Silver Creek had gained all of 55 total yards to that point, with quarterback Alejandro Flores completing just six of 14 passes to that point, but he found new life under pressure. The Raiders methodically drove downfield as Flores went 6-for-8 with 76 yards, hitting Trey Trim on an 18-yard completion to get across midfield and then connecting with Nnamdi Obilor on back-to-back passes, a 16-yard completion for a third-down conversion and then a 20-yard strike to the end zone to cut the lead to 17-15 with 42 seconds left.
The Raiders lined up for a two-point conversion with a swinging gate formation, and even though Willow Glen was out of timeouts, the defense was prepared for it and Alvarez stopped Eddie Myles in the backfield to preserve the two-point lead. Jack Reilly recovered the ensuing onside kick, and Isaiah Basurto kneeled twice to close the game.
Typically a very accurate high-volume passer, Basurto threw just five times on Thursday night. He made most of his impact through his legs and by reading the defense, running for a three-yard touchdown in the first quarter and distributing the ball to Hawkins, Jacob Soria, and, until he went down with an injury, Jake Medina.
“This was the most conservative game I’ve coached here,” said Caballero.
A 66-yard march down the field to start the game for the Rams led to a Jake Flynn 22-yard field goal, and Flores’ first pass of the night, a deep try on third-and-27 after a holding penalty and a botched snap, was picked off by Medina to give Willow Glen great field position. Basurto ran for the short touchdown, and when the defense forced another three-and-out, Hawkins delivered his 40-yard score.
Though the mishaps would keep the hosts from scoring again, Hawkins was able to largely control the game and, combined with the defense, was able to prevent the Raiders from escaping their own end of the field for much of the night. The drive that ended with the blocked field goal featured runs of 11, 20 and 10 yards, and before the fumbled snap, the 5-foot-7 senior had a 17-yard run and a pair of nine-yard gains.
All of that, combined with the Raiders’ inability to get out of their own way, kept Silver Creek from making a serious push until the final two minutes.
“We shoot ourselves in the foot so much, we don’t have any toes left,” said Raiders head coach Eric Leuscher. “We show glimpses of what our potential is, but the teams in this league are too strong to make mistakes against.”
The onslaught of flags started from the game’s first play, in which the SC defense was called for an illegal substitution. It added up to 12 penalties for 90 yards, including two more on the opening drive.
Trailing 17-3 in the third, a holding call negated a 24-yard touchdown run for Miles and killed the Raiders’ only run for double-digit yards on the night. Still, such a play finally established the run for Silver Creek, leading Willow Glen to place another defender in the box and finally open up the passing game for Flores. He connected with Obilor shortly thereafter on a 10-yard touchdown pass, but when yet another flag pushed the extra point back, the kick was blocked, leaving the Raiders down eight and necessitating the two-point conversion try with 42 seconds left.
Other than that, there was little offense for Silver Creek to speak of. The Raiders went three-and-out six times and gave the ball up on downs late in the second. Their one first-half scoring drive came when a stop on fourth-and-1 gave them the ball at the Willow Glen 37, and Vicente Alcala, primarily a lineman, hit a 28-yard field goal to put the visitors on the board.
Flores’ strong finish gave him 114 yards on 12-of-22 passing, but with the run game going for just 17 yards and the litany of penalties, the Raiders dropped a third straight.
