BY GENE NARDI
The Seminole Ridge High School varsity football team traveled to Santaluces High School and bested the Chiefs 30-27 in three overtime periods on Friday, Oct. 11.
Santaluces scored the game’s first touchdown, and took a 7-0 lead with three minutes to play in the first quarter. The Hawks responded on the next possession with a 70-yard touchdown run by Jalen Young, which was called back on a holding penalty.
The spark the Hawks needed came when they recovered a fumbled fair catch on the Chiefs’ 24 yard line. Seminole Ridge running back E.J. Elien ran it in from the 1 yard line for the score. The Hawk point after was wide, so the Chiefs held on to a 7-6 lead to close out the half.
An early second half Chiefs turnover gave the Hawks another opportunity. Seminole Ridge quarterback Zach DeCosta threw a 53-yard pass to PernelRattray Jr., who was dragged down from behind at the Chief’s 4 yard line. It set up the go-ahead touchdown by Elien to give the Hawks their first lead, 12-7. The 2-point conversion attempt was intercepted.
The fourth quarter started with a bang as Santaluces jetted down the field for a score in just four plays to reclaim a one-point lead, 13-12. The point after was no good.
Seminole Ridge answered back on the next possession. Running back Kerrith Whyte started the fire with a 64-yard run to the Chiefs’ 20 yard line. Young ran in a touchdown and Rattray’s two-point conversion run let the Hawks regain the lead, 20-13.
With only 2:31 left in the game, the Chiefs responded on the ensuing drive with an 85-yard touchdown pass and a point-after kick tied the game at 20, sending the game into the first Kansas City tiebreaker. Neither team scored on its first possession, as Seminole Ridge missed an opportunity for the win with a Jacob Curran field goal that sailed just wide. On the second overtime, DeCosta took it in from 1 yard out to give the Hawks the lead.
Curran’s kick made it 27-20. But Santaluces took the ball and converted on their second opportunity to tie the game yet again.
Hawk cornerback IssacEsson intercepted a Santaluces pass on their third attempt. Curran got a second chance to redeem himself with a 20-yard field goal. This time, he put it straight through the center for the 30-27 win.
“I’m really proud of the guys; that’s how you fight, and that shows class,” Hawk coach Scott Barnwell said after the game. “We were kind of flat early, but came up with big plays, and they came to life.”
Seminole Ridge (3-3), will host Wellington on Friday, Oct. 18 at 7 p.m. at Callery-Judge Stadium in a district match-up.
ABOVE: The Hawks’ Darrell Hickman runs through the Santaluces defense.
