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HEADLINES 10.08.04
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Merced moved across the midfield but again were forced to punt, and the Knights set up shop at their own 20 with 10:18 remaining in the half. Up to this point the Bear defense had stifled Downey’s rushing attack, but that was about to change. The Knights pounded the interior of the line over and over again, moving the 80 yards downfield on 17 plays, 13 of which were on the ground. Draper completed just one of his four pass attempts on the drive and the Knights converted two fourth-down opportunities, including a one-yard touchdown run by Gonzalez with just 2:44 left in the half. Addis’ PAT kick made it 14-7 Downey and capped the impressive 17-play, 80-yard drive that consumed 7:34 of the second quarter.
The teams exchanged possessions, with the Bears missing a golden opportunity to put points on the board right before halftime. After Merced forced Downey to punt, a low snap forced Gonzalez to run rather than kick it away. Gonzalez was stopped just short of the first down marker and the Bears took over at the Downey 35 with 27 seconds left in the half. However, Merced was unable to move the ball and Camacho was sacked on the last play of the half.
The Bears missed out on another golden opportunity early in the third quarter when Diaz recovered a Draper fumble on the Downey 37. Merced was unable to muster a first down and turned it back over to the Knights on downs after Mack was stopped two yards short of a first down on fourth and three.
From there, Downey marched to the Merced two yard line but an illegal procedure penalty against the Knights was followed by a Draper incompletion, and Downey was forced to settle for a 25-yard field goal. The boot by Addis gave the Knights a 17-7 lead with 2:03 left in the third quarter and a seemingly comfortable lead, especially after the next two Merced possessions both ended with Camacho being intercepted.
However, the Merced defense continued to hound Draper and eventually forced the senior signal caller to the sidelines for a series midway through the fourth quarter. That proved to be the momentum-turner that the Bears were looking for, as Bispo stepped in to replace Draper and promptly engineered a disastrous Downey drive that included a personal foul penalty, a sack, and finally a fumble that was recovered by Merced’s sophomore defensive lineman Tunde Osungboye.
The Bears set up at the Downey 29 with 8:09 remaining in the game and promptly marched to the end zone on five running plays, capped by an eight-yard scoring run off right tackle by sophomore Garrett Turner. Vitato’s PAT cut the Downey lead to 17-14 with 5:56 remaining.
The Knights answered by picking up a pair of first downs, but the Bears used their timeouts to keep enough time on the game clock and the Merced defense eventually held and forced the punt, setting up Cortez and the offense’s last-minute heroics. But don’t tell Cortez that the Bears were overmatched and simply lucky to escape with the victory.
“We’re not a fluke,” he stated emphatically. “We’re a good team.”
Camacho completed six of 12 passes on the night for 158 yards, while Mack led the ground game with 68 yards rushing.
The Bears will open Central California Conference play on the road against Pitman (3-2) next Friday night (Oct. 15).
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