SAN JOSE — The way the Silver Creek Raiders have been playing, nothing can stop them. Not even seven penalties in one drive.
After forcing a Leigh punt and starting at their own 10 midway through the third quarter, the Raiders managed to hold the ball for the next 11 minutes and 25 seconds, committing a litany of penalties to the point where they faced a first-and-49 but still managed to ultimately score, icing a 35-12 victory over the Longhorns.
“We just needed to stay calm and execute on every play,” head coach Aaron Noriega said of the recovery from first-and-49. The drive took the final 4:18 of the third quarter and more than half of the fourth as the Raiders ran 16 plays, had another five wiped out by penalties and had another negated by pre-snap penalties. Between the flags and one play in which they lost yardage, they ultimately gained 165 yards on the drive as they snuffed out any hopes of a Leigh comeback.
Silver Creek (5-3, 4-1 BVAL Santa Teresa) out-gained Leigh 307-56 on the ground and managed to force the traditionally run-heavy Longhorns to the air as the game went on. Back-to-back stellar plays by Andre Alvarado had the Raiders in control in the second quarter and gave the hosts a chance to pull away early as he knocked a deep pass away in the secondary to force a three-and-out after the Raiders had taken a 7-6 lead, then returned a punt 60 yards for a touchdown after waiting to play the ball on a hop.
“They thought the ball was just a dead ball, so I picked it up and nobody was ready,” he said.
With Elijah Thomas bullying his way to yards on the ground, including 31 yards on SC’s first scoring drive, the Raiders were in position to pull away before the half if not for a crucial blocked field goal. The 50-yard attempt ricocheted straight off the line and all the way back into Raider territory, and Leigh (6-2, 3-2) cashed in two plays later as George Altawil hooked up with Tristan Pelletaire on a screen that turned into a 13-yard gain, then found Rigo Colindres for a 25-yard touchdown.
Altawil, who was sharing with Max Velikanovs before the junior broke his jaw in a win over Del Mar, threw 17 passes and completed 12 for 145 yards and a pair of scores while picking up another 28 yards on the ground.
“That’s why we get two quarterbacks ready at all times,” Leigh head coach Kyle Padia said. “He’s always ready to play.”
A strong game from Altawil helped make up in part for the obstacles that Silver Creek’s defense provided, but the Raider front proved to be impossible to run on as Thomas and Malik Jackson teamed up to create nightmares for the Leigh offense.
“We’re not focused on how big they are or how athletic they are,” Jackson said. “We love contact, we love flying to the ball and we love getting after it.”
Leigh did score first on a 52-yard touchdown from Altawil to Max Griffiths, who broke two tackles for the first points the Raiders had allowed in six quarters, but the defense was nearly impenetrable the rest of the way. After Altawil hit Colindres to cut the lead to 14-12, Thomas knocked away the pass on the potential game-tying two-point conversion. A face mask penalty on Jackson’s kick return put the Raiders back in Leigh territory, and after two runs by Thomas, quarterback Ricky Anaya found Angelo Amezcua for a 21-yard gain before scoring a two-yard touchdown on the next play to reopen a two-score lead before halftime. Anaya threw just seven times but connected on five of his passes for 87 yards while tallying another 73 on the ground.
Amezcua, who ran eight times for 50 yards and had 52 receiving yards on two catches, brought Silver Creek back across midfield with a 25-yard run on the second play of the third quarter before giving way to Thomas, who brought the Raiders into the red zone with an 18-yard run before scoring from three yards out. In all, Thomas ran for 150 yards on 19 carries after his father awed the crowd with a stellar rendition of the national anthem.
“We just kept pounding the rock down their throats,” Thomas said. “Our offense is based on downhill running.”
Leigh had a chance to get back within one score on the ensuing drive after a 20-yard screen to Pelletaire, but a holding penalty and Nicholas Tran sack forced the Longhorns to punt on 4th-and-27. That would set the Raiders up for the drive to end all drives, one that started with a holding penalty that took them back to their own 5 after Altawil pinned them deep. Silver Creek got to midfield on the first play of the fourth as Thomas converted a third down, then reached the Leigh 20 on a 31-yard pass to Amezcua.
Then the flags flew. Four straight holding penalties took the Raiders all the way back into their own territory, wiping out two touchdowns in the process. The last of those flags came with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to make the now-fabled first-and-49. Undeterred, Anaya gained 27 yards, then handed off to Thomas for a gain of six and scrambled for another nine. SC committed one last false start for good measure before the backbreaking play, a 20-yard gain by Anaya on fourth-and-12. On third-and-goal at the 1, Mario Blanco, traditionally a lineman, plunged in for a touchdown on his lone carry of the night to seal the win.
Ariel Orona, who made headlines around the Bay Area by becoming one of the first female players to throw for a touchdown in state history, got a carry as the Raiders ran down the clock and sealed their third consecutive victory. In that stretch, they’ve allowed just 18 points.
“We’re just trying to focus on developing as a team, making the playoffs and winning the division,” Jackson said. “Our coaches have said, ‘think we, not me.’”
Silver Creek travels to Sobrato (3-3, 1-3) next Saturday while Leigh will host rival Branham (7-0, 4-0) next Friday.
