PLEASANTON — Seemingly accountable for a house playoff win, Foothill Excessive wanted one remaining defensive cease to beat Classic 34-28 Friday night time in a North Coast Part Division II first-round sport.
The Falcons had the sport in management by scoring twice and protecting the ball for nearly the whole third quarter for a 34-21 lead. However Classic wasn’t finished, driving 75 yards for a rating on 14 performs, recovering an onside kick on the 49-yard line and advancing all the best way to the Foothill 15-yard line.
Lastly, on fourth-and-6 from the 15, quarterback Si Sabbagha’s fourth-down cross sailed out of the top zone and Foothill escaped with 36 seconds to play.
Foothill, 7-4, advances to satisfy San Ramon Valley within the second spherical. The highest-seeded Wolves beat the Falcons 31-7 on Sept. 30. That loss left Foothill with a 2-4 report, however the Falcons haven’t misplaced since. Classic ends its season at 6-5.
The Falcons scored on a 50-yard fly sweep by Chris Lawson, an 8-yard cross from Eric Olsen to Michael O’Donaghue, a fortuitous 3-yard scoop and rating with an offensive fumble on the 3-yard line by Conor Baesemann and an 18-yard scoring cross from Olsen to Luke Haviley earlier than ending up with a 1-yard plunge by operating again Samear Lattier with 9:56 remaining.
Olsen missed on consecutive passes within the second quarter however in any other case was excellent, going 16 for 18 for 176 yards and the 2 touchdowns. He accomplished his remaining 12 passes of the sport.
“I feel he was the difference-maker on offense for us,” Foothill coach Greg Haubner stated. “He did an amazing job distributing. He missed a few throws back-to-back however aside from that he was spot-on tonight. He was nice.”
Within the first half, the Falcons had issue coping with a no-frills Classic offense that features direct snaps to ball-carriers aside from the quarterback. The Crushers drove for a landing the primary time that they had the ball on a 10-yard run by Matt Ackman, and led 14-7 when Foothill gave up a 47-yard landing cross from Sabbagha to Joseph Fiene.
Classic went up 21-14 on Sabbagha’s 27-yard fourth-down strike to Ackman and appeared poised to take that lead into the half. However Foothill got here up with its first defensive cease of the sport, stopping Classic on fourth-down on the 49.
That set the stage for a 40-yard cross from Olson to Haviley and a 9-yard cross to Lawson. A fumbled change was alertly scooped up by Baesemann, who surged into the top zone to maintain Foothill inside 21-20.
“That play made me cease, drop and roll in my chest,” Haubner stated.
Foothill seized management on the primary possession of the second half, marching 80 yards on 12 performs and taking 6:24 off the clock earlier than Olsen hit Haviley from 18 yards out. After one other defensive cease, the Falcons drove 56 yards for the rating that appeared to place the sport away.
“We had an amazing drive to open the third quarter, we get a cease on protection and it modified the entire sport for us,” Olsen stated. “We scored one other landing and the remainder of historical past.”
Nicely, virtually.
Since Foothill missed one in all their further level makes an attempt on a center-snap concern, the Crushers have been in place to win the sport after scoring a landing and recovering the onside kick.
And so they may need had it too, had not O’Donaghue damaged up a Sabbagha cross supposed Fiene in the long run zone.
“I've to confess, I used to be near passing out on the sideline for a minute there, however it was nice of our protection to get that cease and get to exit in victory formation,” Olsen stated.”
Lattier led Foothill in speeding with 64 yards on 16 carries and Haviley caught 4 passes for 85 yards.