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Merced rallies, defeats Downey 20-17
MERCED – Don’t tell Cruz Cortez that the Merced High Bears aren’t a good football team.
The senior wide receiver took a short pass from quarterback Josh Camacho and turned it into a 39-yard gain with under a minute remaining against the Downey Knights last Friday night (Oct. 8) at Stadium ’76. Teammate Jamaria Mack plunged across the goal line from a yard out on the next play, capping a 13-point fourth quarter rally that lifted the Bears to a 20-17 win in their final non-conference tune-up.
Merced improves to 3-2, while the Knights fall to 3-2.
“The key to winning was that we stayed together,” Cortez said. “We knew that we could come back. We worked hard all week at practice, and we knew that Friday was the payday.
“Nobody thought we could win this game, and that just motivated us more.”
Merced’s game-winning drive began at its own 16-yard line with 2:55 remaining following a Downey punt. The Bears chipped away, with Camacho scrambling for a first down and Mack picking up three yards on a critical fourth and two from the Merced 48.
On a second-down play following a Camacho spike to stop the clock, the Bears set up with Cortez lined up on the left side of the line. Camacho faded back to pass and faced heavy pressure up the middle. The senior signal caller dumped the ball to Cortez, who was angling across the middle, and the speedy receiver took it from there.
“The whole plan was to get me the ball, try to get a couple of blocks, and get a first down,” Cortez said. “I saw an opening, and got a good block from Carter Todd, and decided to take it outside.”
Cortez worked his way across to the right sideline and was finally knocked out of bounds about six inches shy of the goal line. After Mack scored the game-winner, the extra-point snap bounced to Camacho and kicker Kory Vitato never got a chance to boot the PAT.
The missed extra point almost proved costly as the Knights had one last chance to tie it up after a 50-yard pass from Chad Draper to Daniel Gonzalez put the ball inside the Bears’ 40. However, defensive end Richard Diaz sacked Draper on the next play and the Knights, out of timeouts, watched helplessly as the clock ticked down to zero.
Merced opened the game on a high note, taking the opening kickoff and driving 85 yards on just four plays. Three runs by Mack gave the Bears a first down at the 28. On the fourth play of the drive, the Downey defense bit on a good play-action fake by Camacho, giving Todd single coverage down the right side. Camacho hit him in stride and the fleet sophomore receiver outran defensive back Tim Brown into the end zone for the 72-yard scoring strike. Vitato’s kick made it 7-0 just 1:51 into the game.
The Knights answered right back, taking the ensuing kickoff and marching 73 yards on eight plays. Draper capped the drive with a seven-yard scamper on fourth-and-goal, just eluding pressure from Merced defensive lineman Augustine Lara and diving into the end zone. The PAT by Royal Addis made it 7-7 with 6:41 remaining in the opening quarter.
Downey picked up a majority of its yards on the drive via the pass, as Draper hit Brad Bispo for 29 yards and connected with Brown for 37 more. The Knights’ four running plays netted minus-two yards until Draper’s scramble into the end zone.
On the next possession the Knights gained the upper hand in the field position battle, forcing Merced to punt after three plays and taking over at their own 47. Downey converted a pair of third-down conversions while moving to the Bear 29, but a bad handoff caused a fumble that the Bears were able to recover at their own 30 to thwart the drive. |
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