SAN JOSE — With how close Leland and Lincoln were on Thursday night, it was only fitting that the game was decided by a fingertip – well, technically, four of them.
Leland’s Corbin Yates got four fingers on Lincoln quarterback Gavin Somerville’s pass at the goal line as time expired, saving a 42-35 Charger victory in what will go down as one of the best football games played in the Bay Area this year.
The two teams engaged in a dance where the two teams seemed less committed to outdoing each other and more focused on keeping the other close. They combined for 1,024 yards but also committed eight turnovers, and the winning score came on a bad snap on a punt. Lincoln (3-1, 1-1 BVAL Mt. Hamilton) lined up in punt formation for the second time all night with 2:42 left after overcoming a 15-point deficit, but when the snap went over Angel Sanchez-Avina’s head, Alex Cheng was able to land on it before it went out of the back of the end zone, putting Leland (3-2, 2-0) back on top.
Perhaps it was better for the Lions that the punt didn’t go out of the end zone, as a safety would have given possession to Leland despite putting the visitors in just a two-point hole. Instead, the Lincoln offense was able to get right back on the field, needing to come back from behind as had already been the case for most of the second half. Leland took a 35-20 halftime lead and had a chance to go up three scores after a methodical march down the field that covered the first half of the third quarter, but Lions linebacker Jeffrey Petulla recovered a bad snap at the 3-yard line. Over the next five minutes, Lincoln put together a steady 12-play drive, getting to midfield with a 48-yard run by sophomore Epoki Fakaosi and then turning to the reliable hand of Alex Arenas, who finished the drive with four straight runs as part of his 21-carry, 144-yard performance.
Leland once again came down the field with a chance to extend the lead but once again handed it away, with Fakaosi recovering a fumble after Petulla knocked the ball loose from Charger quarterback Carson Yates in the red zone. It would take the Lions just two plays to tie the game as Somerville hit Andy Vonappen for a 79-yard dash up the sidelines, setting off a frenzied celebration on the visiting sidelines.
Chaos persisted as Leland would yet again cross midfield, this time taking advantage of great field position off a squib kick, then entering the red zone on a 21-yard Carson Yates run. The Chargers would leave the red zone as quickly as they found it, committing their second holding penalty of the drive and then losing 10 more yards as Yates was sacked by Nicholas Meissner. He then rolled right under pressure and heaved a pass that Somerville picked off, suddenly giving Lincoln a chance to play for the lead after starting a three-score deficit in the face earlier in the half.
Finally, it was the Lelan defense’s turn to shine, forcing a three-and-out for the first time all night as Garrison Nakaji demonstrated lockdown coverage on third down.
On a night where the Lions had already made their way back from the dead, giving up a special teams touchdown wouldn’t be enough to put them away. The rushing attack of Arenas, Petulla and Fakaosi led the visitors right back down the field, even with the clock working against them and no timeouts at their disposal. After seven straight runs, a Somerville incompletion stopped the clock with 40 seconds left. Arenas then gained 16 and stopped the clock by going out of bounds, but Petulla lost two on the following carry. With all their timeouts burned before the final drive, the Lions were forced to resort to a spike, and a pass through Arenas’ outstretched arms on third down put Lincoln on the verge of extinction. Somerville then looked like a seasoned veteran instead of a junior used to handing the ball off forced into a passing role, connecting with Joshua Hufana for a 16-yard gain. As unlikely as it was for Somerville to star in Lincoln’s run-heavy scheme, Hufana’s presence was even more surprising. Primarily a defensive back, he was on the field for just his second offensive snap of the game to give the Lions a receiving option.
Hufana got out of bounds with four seconds left to give Lincoln one last chance, and though Somerville was able to roll to the right and had a lane for Arenas, the younger of the Yates brothers was able to get four fingers on it to end the game.
“I thought it would be a game that would come down to the run,” Corbin said. “But in that situation, we knew they’d run that little out route. We had seen it on film a few times.”
Surprisingly, the mood on the Lincoln side following the defeat was one of optimism rather than despair, even with a bruised and battered Arenas getting extra medical attention.
“I’m proud that we didn’t quit and kept playing,” head coach Kevin Collins said. “That’s a good football team. Both teams could say they could have scored a few more times if they hadn’t fumbled, but that’s just football.”
Lincoln turned it over two more times in addition to the botched punt for the go-ahead score. After the Chargers tied it at 14 just 14 seconds into the second quarter, Fakaosi broke free up the sideline for a 51-yard run, but Corbin Yates was able to chase him down and strip the ball loose at the 15, which Nakaji picked up and took back to the 41, setting Leland up to take the lead for the first time on the night. Four minutes later, an 18-yard pass from Carson Yates to a diving Siddhant Thadani put the Chargers on top, 21-14.
Petulla, who forced one fumble on defense and recovered another, coughed it up on the first play after a Brian Flores-Sandoval interception of Yates in the end zone with Leland threatening to go up two scores. The Mark Eby fumble recovery led to a one-yard push by Yates, marking 22 unanswered Leland points.
That wouldn’t be the last the Chargers heard from Lincoln, though. Fakaosi fired right back, avenging his earlier fumble by staying ahead of the defenders this time for an 80-yard score.
“Everyone just started bringing each other up,” Fakaosi said of his team’s resiliency. “We’re that kind of team; we just keep going.”
Eby blocked the extra point, though, and Leland needed just three players to answer. A 28-yard Noor Haroon kick return set the Chargers up with good field position, and with completions to Thadani, his younger brother and then Haroon on a 25-yard score, Leland took a 15-point lead into the break.
It was hard to believe at the time, but the Chargers would win the game without another offensive touchdown.
“I’ve got to thank our defense so much for everything,” Carson Yates said. “Our offense didn’t do what we wanted to do in the second half.”
The elder Yates completed 14 of his 19 passes for 222 yards and three touchdowns, including two to Haroon (four catches-82 yards) while also running for 84 yards on 16 carries and picking up a fourth touchdown on the ground. Leland’s run game was tested after Jesse Cavanna went down with an ankle injury in the second quarter, having run for 55 yards on just eight carries.
“Mark stepped up big-time,” Yates said of the sophomore running back, who gained 50 yards on 11 carries. “He kept putting the pressure on.”
The Chargers ran for 213 yards as a team, but Lincoln nearly doubled that behind Arenas’ 144 and 238 from Fakaosi on just 11 carries, more than making up for junior Rolando Prado’s absence. Somerville, who entered the game with just five completed passes, went 6-for-12 for 178 yards, with 111 of those yards going to Vonappen.
“The past week of practice we prepared for being in a close game, practicing two-minute drills and everything,” Somerville said. “We went out against one of the best teams in the league, faced a D-I quarterback and held them to seven points in the second half.”
Both teams will be on the road next week, with Lincoln traveling to Pioneer (1-4, 0-2) while Leland makes the short trek to Santa Teresa (3-2, 2-0) with a share of first place on the line.
