HUGHSON – Sonora High coach Kirk Clifton and Hughson’s Shaun King waged football’s version of a chess match Friday night with 3 seconds left and the Trans-Valley League championship probably riding on the outcome.
Hughson spent all three timeouts in succession, followed by Sonora burning its last timeout as the Wildcats prepared for the game-deciding 2-point conversion. Finally, the timeouts were gone and a capacity crowd at Husky Memorial Stadium stood and screamed.
So who decided Hughson’s 52-51 victory? An unheralded senior inside linebacker named Colt Foss, who King called “probably the smartest football player we have.”
Foss knocked down Eli Ingalls’ short pass over the middle to keep the Huskies (7-0, 4-0) unbeaten. After the kickoff and the kneeldown by Hughson quarterback Robert McDaniel, the Huskies—following a handshake of mutual respect between the teams—performed backflips and cartwheels in pure celebration.
Clifton didn’t even bother calling a play during Hughson’s timeout trio. Going for the win, to him, was automatic. He waited, then decided to pass which, after the Wildcats strafed Hughson for 494 rushing yards, came as a surprise from a team that had attempted only four passes all night.
“I wanted to see what (alignment) they would be in. It changed a little bit every time,” Clifton said. “I’ll stand behind the play ball, because the receiver (Brody Speer) was open. We just didn’t practice that enough.”
Foss, not imposing at 5-foot-11, told Hughson coaches during one of the timeouts that Sonora “might try a pop pass.” Though he toiled most of the game having mixed success trying to tackle Wildcats fullback Tommy Sutton (31 carries, 247 yards, 2 TDs), he knew the previous 103 points and 1,030 yards of offense amounted to a thrilling prelude.
“It felt like 20 minutes,” Foss said as he described the game-ending drama. “My job was to hit him (the quarterback) and I was going to come up but then he stopped and I thought, ‘Oh no!’ and put my hand up. I got lucky.”
The matchup, Sonora’s raw power vs. McDaniel’s next-level arm, played out in a spectacular standoff. Neither side could stop the other. There were five ties and seven lead changes. Hughson outgained Sonora 516-514.
Get the picture?
McDaniel, bound for Arizona, burnished his status as the valley’s best quarterback. He completed 19 of 28 passes for 424 yards, five touchdowns and a conversion.
“Our hero is No. 8 (Robert McDaniel),” Foss said.
The game was knotted at 45 late in the fourth quarter when McDaniel did his best work. His stunning back-shoulder 22-yard sideline completion to brother Bryce McDaniel, which beat skin-tight coverage, brought the Huskies to the Sonora 2-yard line.
“On press coverage, my brother and I know that he’s going to get the ball on the back shoulder,” Robert said.
Eli Wilbanks scored on the next play with 1:48 left, which worried King and the Husky coaches. Had they scored too soon?
“I wanted our guy to have the ball last,” King said.
His fears were confirmed when the Wildcats defied the ticking clock and pounded it down the field. Their no-huddle attack featured only a single completed pass. Ingalls faked to Sutton and kept for seven yards and the touchdown that keynoted the goosebump finish.
In hindsight, a few Sonora miscues along the way became the difference: Ingalls’ snap fumble on Sonora’s first play on offense, which led to a Hughson touchdown and a 10-0 lead; a bobbled Sonora punt snap deep in its own territory that the Huskies turned into a touchdown; and a 45-yard field goal that fell only a few yards short following a costly delay of game penalty.
“The bottom line is we made too many mistakes,” Clifton said. “They played a much cleaner game than we did."
Hughson thrust with McDaniel and receivers Bryce McDaniel, Malakai Sumter (2 touchdowns) and Max Mankins. Sonora parried with Sutton, its straight-ahead 210-pound first option, and fleet junior Cash Byington (128 rushing yards, 1 TD). Byington’s constant good kickoff returns also helped Sonora’s field position.
The best player on the field, however, was Robert McDaniel. His fifth touchdown pass, a looping spiral that dropped straight over Sumter’s helmet and into his arms, produced 72 electric yards and the score that erased Sonora’s final lead early in the fourth quarter.
“Getting a 10-0 lead early in the game gave us confidence,” McDaniel said. “I thought that was big.”
But who could have guessed that the checkmate factor would be Foss, who King praised as “our coach on the field”? Foss thought his 1-yard push, good for only his second touchdown of the season, would be his prime-time moment.
The football gods had better plans for him.
Celebrating a 21-yard touchdown off of a 57-yard completion in the second quarter, Malakai Sumter is thrown into the air by a teammate (Samantha Schmidt).
Hughson 52, Sonora 51
Sonora 10-14-7-20—51
Hughson 10-21-6-15—52
1st Quarter
H—FG Noe Pacheco 26
H—Lawson Aviles 44 pass from Robert McDaniel (Pacheco kick)
S—FG Emanuel Garibay 23
S—Brody Speer 14 run (Garibay kick)
2nd Quarter
S—Cash Byington 44 run (Garibay kick)
H—Malakai Sumter 21 pass from McDaniel (Pacheco kick)
H—Jamesson Davis 13 pass from McDaniel (Pacheco kick)
S—Tommy Sutton 69 run (Garibay kick)
H—Max Mankins 13 pass from McDaniel (Pacheco kick)
3rd Quarter
S—Speer 6 run (Garibay kick)
H—Colt Foss 1 run (kick blocked)
4th Quarter
S—Sutton 9 run (Garibay kick)
H—Sumter 72 pass from McDaniel (Sumter pass from McDaniel)
S—Eli Ingalls 33 run (Garibay kick)
H—Eli Wilbanks 2 run (Pacheco kick)
S—Ingalls 7 run (pass failed)
Records—Sonora 6-1, 3-1 TVL; Hughson 7-0, 4-0 TVL
JV—Sonora 41-0
