Aragon was down by five with 38 seconds left in the game. The Dons faced a fourth-and-17 from the Terra Nova 30-yard line. It was all or nothing for quarterback Nathaniel Blood and the Aragon Dons. He dropped back in the pocket and threw a prayer to his favorite target, wide receiver Aldo Severson, who made the catch in double coverage. He strode into the end zone to win the game for the Dons 32-31.
Blood’s textbook throw to Severson was placed such that only Severson could grab it with two Tigers all over him.
“Everyone in the stadium knew what we were going to do with it,” said Aragon coach Steve Sell, who celebrated his birthday with an exhilarating win.
Aragon (6-2, 2-2 in PAL-Bay) scored 18 unanswered points in the fourth quarter to pull off the improbable comeback over Terra Nova (4-4, 2-1), preventing the Tigers from taking over first place in the PAL Bay Division. This was the Dons first win over the Tigers, their PAL rival, since 2008.
“This is the biggest win of the season probably the biggest in years,” Sell said. “This is our signature win and will definitely boost our confidence.”
Aragon will need to defeat Burlingame next week to assure a trip to the CCS playoffs, but as long as Blood and Severson are at the top of their games, that seems like a solid prospect. Blood finished the day with 233 yards and 5 touchdowns, with four of those to Severson.
“I’d love to take credit for the win but the team made some big plays," Sell said. "Especially Nat Blood - he made some clutch throws."
Severson, the hero of the day for the Dons, caught 11 passes for 187 yards and 4 touchdowns, the last one being the game winner.
“It was a perfectly thrown ball by Nat. It couldn’t have been any better,” said Severson recalling the game-winning play.
Early in the game, it was all Tigers. Terra Nova quarterback K’ren Spain threw for 226 yards and 3 touchdowns in the first half, all to different receivers. He was unstoppable in the first 24 minutes of the game leading the Tigers to a 20-6 lead at halftime.
The Tigers defense held the Dons to one touchdown in the first half and forced them to punt numerous times.
However things changed in the second half. The opening drive by the Dons in the second half was agreed by both coaches to be the turning point of the game. Blood, with a great deal of help from running back Marcel Jackson, marched the Dons down the field for 73 yards and capped the drive with a touchdown pass to Severson to cut the lead to 21-14.
The Tigers answered back when Spain threw a 17-yard pass to Joe Sherry to extend their lead 28-14. The Tigers forced the Dons to punt again in the third quarter. With an efficient pass attack, the Tigers once more came within striking distance. However, the Aragon defense stopped them on third down, and the Tigers had to settle for a Carlos Grande 38-yard field goal which gave Terra Nova a 31-14 lead late in the third quarter.
From then on, the Dons put on a clinic of how to pull off a comeback in the fourth quarter. To begin the comeback, Blood led the team down the field early in the fourth quarter and topped the drive off with an eight-yard pass to Severson to make it 31-20.
Then after getting the ball back with a huge interception by defensive back Isiah Atchan, Blood connected with, you guessed it, Aldo Severson for a 47-yard catch-and-run touchdown to make it 31-26.
On the next drive, Aragon forced Terra Nova to punt for the first time in the game and the Dons took over deep in their own territory. With 4:11 left in the game, Aragon embarked on its final epic game-winning drive.
Jackson, who finished up with 121 yards on 31 carries, had a huge impact on the final drive for the Dons, picking up huge chunks of yardage and several first downs.
However, the Dons got a huge break on a pass interference call on third down that kept the drive going. Aragon had the ball at the 25-yard line with about a minute left in regulation. After two incompletions and a sack, the Dons were backed up at the 30-yard line, facing a fourth-and-17. Blood connected with Severson and the comeback was complete.
The underlying cause of the comeback win was the Aragon defense in the fourth quarter. The Dons held Terra Nova scoreless in the final quarter and limited Spain to only 60 yards in the second half. Spain finished with 316 yards passing and 4 touchdowns.
Both teams are back in action Friday night (7 pm), as the Dons visit Burlingame and the Tigers travel to Menlo-Atherton.
