SAN JOSE – It all came down to the last play at Independence High on Saturday night.
With three seconds remaining on the clock, Los Gatos quarterback Dru Brown dropped back, looked to his left and his right, and heaved a pass to the back corner of the left side of the end zone. Sacred Heart Prep defenders tipped the ball out of bounds, sealing the victory for the Gators, 28-21, and sending No. 1-seeded SHP (12-0) to the Open Division title game next Friday against No. 7 Bellarmine (10-2).
“The last play. Seeing that ball go out of bounds and then seeing the entire team run on to the field, the crowd going crazy, that’s when it really hit me. We did this. We can compete at this level; we have a chance to go win a championship,” said SHP star Ben Burr-Kirven.
It's been a meteoric rise for SHP to first a state title game in CIF-State Division III last season and then an Open championship game this season. The school didn't even have football until former athletic director Mike Ciardella instituted the program in 1999 and then made the key move in Gator football history by hiring Lavorato -- a former Canadian Football League player -- as the SHP coach in 2003.
Burr-Kirven led the way for the SHP offense in the second half. He capped off his performance of 18 rushes for 81 yards and two scores with a five-yard touchdown run with 45 seconds remaining, giving SHP the 28-21 lead that was the eventual final score.
Los Gatos (9-3) started with the ball on its own 34-yard line on the following drive, and started strong with Brown finding Wilcox for a 27-yard gain. He quickly followed the completion with another to Wilcox, who pitched the ball to Nick Occhipinti for an eight-yard gain. Brown then rushed for five yards down the left side, setting up the final play and incompletion.
Trailing 7-0 early in the second quarter, quarterback Mason Randall and the Gators got to work. Randall completed passes of eight, 15, and 26 yards on the four minute-plus drive before punching the ball in to the end zone from one yard and tying the game at 7.
After a four-yard run by Los Gatos’ Joey Wood to start the next drive, Brown dropped back and threw a pass right in to the hands of SHP’s Mitch Martella, who took the interception 47 yards to the end zone for a touchdown. The score gave the Gators their first lead of the game, a 14-7 advantage that carried in to the half.
“We were in deep coverage and they (Los Gatos) had doubles on my side. Inside guy ran a corner, outside guy ran a post, and I knew I had the safety over top, so I watched the QB and jumped it,” said Martella. “I got a good block from Cole March on Joey Wood, and from there it was pretty much green grass.”
Los Gatos came out of the half strong, forcing SHP to go three-and-out on the opening drive and then driving 78 yards on 11 plays to tie the game 14-14 on a three-yard TD run by Wood.
“That (the pick-six) gave them some momentum obviously, and as a result we went in to halftime down a score,” said coach Mark Krail. “To our guys credit, we came out in the second half, held ‘em there, got the ball, tied it, tied it again.”
Burr-Kirven returned the lead to SHP five minutes later on a five-yard touchdown run, putting the Gators up 21-14. Brown tied it back up at 21 with a four-yard pass to Dylan Plane in the back corner of the end zone at the 6:43 mark of the final quarter. Sacred Heart Prep’s game-winning drive took place on the following kickoff.
“It’s just a great football game, I thought,” said SHP coach Pete Lavorato. “It was really well played ... it was a well-played game. They certainly could’ve beaten us tonight. They’re a really good football team; I was impressed with how they played tonight.”
Next Friday will be the Gators’ first appearance in a CCS Open Division final, while their opponent Bellarmine will be playing for its fourth Open Division title. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at San Jose City College, which also happens to be the Bells’ adopted home turf.
“It’s great. It’s going to be two tall, solid, well-coached, disciplined football teams going at it. Hopefully they gained a little respect for us tonight, because we have a ton of respect for them,” said Lavorato.
