Prep football roundup: Redwood secures second playoff win in program history
Dante Davis forced a late fumble and Erik Johnson recovered it as the Redwood High football team closed out a 21-16 road win against Antioch in the North Coast Section Division IV playoffs on Friday night.
The postseason victory was the second in the history of the program for Redwood with the first coming in 2016 against Casa Grande.
Fifth-seeded Redwood (7-4) advances to the semifinals and a road game against No. 1 Ukiah at 7 p.m. next Friday. Ukiah rolled past No. 8 Alameda 35-0.
The Giants built a 21-0 halftime lead against Antioch (5-6) getting a touchdown run from Sean Cunneen and a pair of scoring passes from Kody Vasquez to Ronan Ralston and Ben Vaughn, respectively.
“We just played well. We came out firing,” Redwood coach Allen Talley said. “We just got a little slopy in the fourth quarter. … They got a big play before half but then we stopped them before the half.”
Antioch scored and went for two in the fourth quarter then recovered an onside kick and scored again to pull within 21-16. The Panthers had the ball again with a chance to take the lead when Davis and Johnson combined on the turnover and Redwood ran out the clock from there.
Maria Carrillo 28, Tam 20
The Red-tailed Hawks thought they had scored a touchdown in the final seconds but a flag for an illegal formation took the points off the board.
Tam quarterback Gus Beyer found Timo Ural in the end zone for a score that would have pulled the Red-tailed Hawks within 28-26 in the final seconds. Tam coach Anthony Mejia had the two-point play all dialed up but never got to use it. The Red-tailed Hawks (3-8) had one more chance but the last-gasp pass fell incomplete.
“I knew it would come down to who had the ball last,” Tam coach Anthony Mejia said. “Gus made a couple great plays to (receiver Timo Ural) and we got to red zone.”
Ural almost scored his third touchdown of the day but the flag wiped it away.
“Illegal formation because the tight end wasn’t set,” Mejia said. “It was kind of a hurry-up play so things kind of happen super quick.”
Ural returned a punt for a score earlier in the game and caught one of Beyer’s two touchdowns passes on the night. Octavien Green caught the other one as Tam rallied out of an early 14-0 hole and pulled within 21-20 at the half.
“We were right there,” Mejia said. “We just needed a couple of things to bounce our way.”
Maria Carrillo (8-3) scored another touchdown in the third quarter and held on from there.
Beyer completed 15 passes for 178 yards, two scores, and one interception. Ural caught six balls for 87 yards. Cole Kramlich had four catches for 62 yards and Green had six catches for 40 yards.
Cornerstone Christian 56, Tomales 50
The Braves saw their season come to an end following a spirited battle against the top-seeded Cougars (10-1) on Friday night. No. 2 Tomales (2-9) played Cornerstone Christian much closer this time around, having lost to the Cougars 54-22 on Oct. 10. No further details were available at press time.