Bruins Trip Up Placer
Bear River running back Trevor McGhee (21) tries to elude Placer's Hayden Goodwin (20) in action from Thursday night's Pioneer Valley League freshman football action at Placer. The Bruins scored two touchdowns in the game's final five and a half minutes to pull out a 20-17 win.
Oct. 24, 2008
Late Rally Elevates Bruins Past Placer Frosh, 20-17
All it took Friday night for the Bear River freshman football team was five and a half minutes of inspired football to get the Bruins their first Pioneer Valley League win of the season.
Sitting winless at 0-2 in PVL action after a pair of last second losses to Colfax and Whitney, Bear River’s frosh turned the tables on Placer in Auburn Thursday night to squeeze out a come from behind 20-17 win over the Hillmen.
Trailing 17-7 with just over five minutes left in the game, the Bruins awoke from their slumber midway through the fourth quarter to pullout the win.
The winning touchdown came with just 45 seconds to play when Jimmy Bamburg hauled in a pass in the flat from Dallen Hunter and turned it into a 23-yard scoring play with to wipe out a 17-14 Placer lead.
The win was the first for Bear River in PVL games after two setbacks and improved their overall record to 5-2. Placer, meanwhile, dropped to 2-1 in PVL action and overall is now 3-4.
“We didn’t close them out when we had a chance,” said Placer coach Jim Gray. “We had a few injuries and shuffled some players around but we made some mistakes that hurt us too.”
Placer scored first in the game after taking advantage of a bad Bruins snap on a punt attempt. Recovering the ball at the Bear River 13-yard line, the Hillmen took just six plays to score as quarterback Jacob Callaghan sneaked over from a yard out. Hayden Goodwin’s extra point kick made the score, 7-0 Placer.
Placer’s lead didn’t last long, however, as Bear River’s Jonny Cassar took Placer’s ensuing kickoff and darted 72 yards up the sideline for six points. Bamburg’s extra point kick tied the score at 7-7.
In the second quarter, Placer answered Bear River’s score with a long drive that Goodwin capped by drilling a 32-yard field goal. The key plays in the drive was a 15-yard run by Johnny Foley and a 20-yard third down pass from Callaghan to Alec Burnett.
After Placer’s Jordan Ralls intercepted a Bruins pass on the next possession, Placer put together another nice drive that culminated with Callaghan finding David Daniel on an eight-yard scoring pass just before halftime that put Placer up, 17-7.
After a scoreless third quarter, Bear River started to win the field position battle and with Huetter hitting Justin Butler on a key third down pass pick-up, Bear River cut the Hillmen lead to 14-7 when Cassar scored from a yard out with just over four and a half minutes to play.
After Placer failed to get a first down on its next possession, Bear River took Placer’s punt and with Huetter hitting Butler, James Harris and Cassar on key passes, the Bruins pushed deep into Hillmen territory where the visitors were able to cash in on the game winning play.
Placer tried a last ditch drive but Bear River’s Trevor McGhee came up with a game sealing interception.
Having good games on defense for Placer were Brandon Ranaldo, Joe Magino and Tanner Jay.
Nevada Union 8 Franklin 6 - Nevada Union’s frosh football team ran into a tough opponent Thursday and despite being besieged with penalties and miscues, the Miners used a late game defensive stand to pull out an 8-6 Delta Valley Conference win over visiting Franklin of Elk Grove.
Trailing 6-0, NU did all its scoring in the second quarter as after a short drive, the Miners found pay dirt on an eight-yard run by Connor Keith. The extra point team ran a fake kick play as holder Brandon Loper hit a pass to Mikey Cordova for the two-point conversion.
The game then turned into a battle of punts and field position before Franklin got the ball back for one last try at its own 25 yard line with just over two minutes to play. After a first down run of 12 yards NU’s defense came up big stuffing the Wildcats and ending the game on a quarterback sack.
Keith led the Miners’ offense with 87 yards on 13 carries, followed by Brad Spangler with 51 yards on 8 carries. Quarterback Josiah Paye was 6 of 13 for 104 yards through the air.
The defense had several fine efforts including Keith and Cyle Bush with eight tackles apiece, Kyler Malarae with seven and Gabe Humphers with six tackles. Alex Sandoval also had a good game on the d-line with five stops.
NU (6-0) travels to Laguna Creek next Thursday for another Delta Valley Conference game.
Colfax 41 El Dorado 0 – The Falcons held the Cougars to just three first downs in improving their Pioneer Valley League record to 3-1 with the shutout road win at Placerville.
Now 5-2 overall on the season, the Falcons built a 21-0 halftime advantage. Hunter Owens (112 yards, 3 touchdowns), Sam Quinlan (64 yards 1 touchdown) and Nolan Karbowski (54 yards) led a Colfax ground attack that finished the game with 275 yards rushing.
Quarterback Austin Young also had a good game as he threw for three touchdowns and finished the evening with 138 yards through the air. Owens, Quinlan and Benton Brown all had scoring receptions for Colfax while Cory Rodgers had a key blobk to spring Ownes on his touchdown reception..
On defense Jesse Barnes and Austin Pachaud key the defensive line while Quinlan added an interception.
Del Oro 30 Roseville 3 – The Golden Eagles received a 70-yard touchdown run by fullback Ronnie Warner and a 60-yard fumble return for a score by Daniel Thomas to roll past the Tigers on the road.
Del Oro, now 7-0 on the season, opened the game by scoring on its first drive when Alex Bertrando hauled in a 15-yard scoring toss from Bobby Heatherington.
Tanner Huber also added a five-yard touchdown run for the winners and Kyle Anderson converted on a 28-yard field goal.
Defensive standouts for Del Oro included Warner. Huber and Russell Smith. Del Oro returns home next Thursday for a 5:30 test against Woodcreek.