NOVATO, Calif. - In a battle for second place in the MCAL Saturday afternoon, Tamalpais made a big comeback to post a 21-18 win at San Marin.
San Marin led 18-7 at halftime and didn't relinquish the lead until a little bit of trickery from Tamalpais in the fourth quarter.
The winning sequence began when Tam stopped San Marin in the red zone, forcing a turnover on downs. With two minutes left, the Hawks needed to go 96 yards to complete the comeback.
The winning drive was led by quarterback Aiden Newell and wide receiver Ben Reade. The first play of the drive was a 35-yard pass from Newell to Reade and they didn’t stop there.
They managed to get to the Mustang 5 yard line with 13 seconds left and they shook things up by performing a trick play known as the “Philly Special.” Instead of Newell throwing the game-winning pass, it was Reade who turned the tables by throwing to Newell.
“I think the main contributor to today’s win was teamwork and we really showed that in the second half,” said Tam head coach Matthew LemMon.
The Hawks were down 18-7 going into the third, but managed to come out of the quarter with a touchdown and leave the Mustangs scoreless. An interception by Tam linebacker Elliot Pavis led to an exciting drive by Tam. Reade caught a 30-yard pass to get into the red zone and scored a touchdown the next play to make the score 18-14.
Despite the loss, San Marin were still in control for most of the game. A bright spot for the Mustangs was WR/CB Will Hickey. He went all out on the defensive side of things by scoring the first points of the game with a long interception return for a touchdown. Hickey forced many incompletions to prevent Tam from converting to first downs. On offense, he had some important catches that led to first downs.
“We had a lot of penalties that were in critical situations that Tam capitalized on," said San Marin head coach Cory Boyd. "Good teams don’t make penalties in big games, so we’re going to have to work on that."
Next week, Tam (7-2, 5-1 MCAL) has a tough home match against Marin Catholic, while San Marin (5-4, 3-3) plays hometown rivals Novato away.
