By Kevin Askeland
MaxPreps.com
SUTTER – Last week, Sebastian Hernandez wasn’t even his team’s starting kicker, but this week he is the hero at Central Catholic.
Thrust into action after starting kicker Andrew Kelly quit the team earlier in the week, Hernandez kicked the gamewinning 25-yard field goal with one second remaining in a 30-28 victory over Sutter on Saturday in front of a standing-room only crowd at Wayne Gadberry Field.
“I just tried to block out everything and concentrate on kicking the ball,” said Hernandez. “I just wanted to remember everything I had practiced over the summer to get ready for that moment.”
Hernandez’s kick capped a wild game that could have state playoff implications. Central Catholic, which played in last year’s Division 3 state bowl game, was fresh off a 38-20 loss to Cardinal Newman, but is still favored to win a section title in the Sac-Joaquin Section this year.
Meanwhile Sutter was 3-0 on the season and had won 15 straight games dating back to last year when the Huskies won the Northern Section Division 2 crown. In fact, the senior class at Sutter had never lost a game at the high school level, winning 35 in a row before Saturday night.
The game had a definite shift in momentum early in the second half. Central Catholic took immediate control of the game and built a 21-0 lead thanks to three Sutter fumbles. But the Huskies rallied to score and held the Raiders out of the end zone just before the break to make it a 21-8 contest.
Sutter then controlled most of the second half, taking a 28-27 lead on a Rowdy Robinson 1-yard run with 3 minutes, 45 seconds left in the game. The Huskies failed to convert the two-point conversion, meaning that a field goal would win it for the Raiders.
Central Catholic got the big play it needed on the first play of the ensuing drive. Quarterback Dylan Swartz had thrown deep all night long with limited effect against the Sutter secondary. This time, from his own 30, Swartz found Patrick Trinkler over the middle for a 32-yard gain. Runs of 8 and 4 yards by T.J. Belton moved the ball to the Sutter 26, but the Raiders needed an 8-yard pass from Swartz to James Orth to keep the drive going. Orth added a 9-yard run and Belton gained 1 yard to give Central Catholic a first down at the Sutter 5 with 18 seconds left.
On the next play, Swartz lofted a pass to the corner of the end zone that misconnected, but Sutter was called for pass interference. Another incomplete pass and an illegal procedure penalty prompted coach Roger Canepa to send out Hernandez for the field goal attempt with six seconds remaining.
Hernandez had missed a 35-yard field goal earlier in the game and had also pulled an extra-point attempt wide left. However his 25-yard boot went straight through the uprights to put the Raiders ahead 30-28.
Sutter caught a break when the ensuing kickoff went out of bounds, but Orth knocked down John Garcia’s pass to end the game.
“The kids didn’t quit, that was the big thing,” said Canepa, who gave new meaning to the phrase “fired up” during his postgame talk with this team. “This is my first year here and we’re still trying to figure things out. We have the toughest schedule Central Catholic’s ever had, but we are getting better on defense and it was a big win for us.”
Sutter coach Scott Turner, who has made it plain that this is his last year in a storied career with the Huskies, set up his schedule this year to get his team into the state bowl game conversation. A trip to Texas resulted in a 38-9 win over Ferris. His Huskies will head to Oregon next week to take on North Valley. A win over Central Catholic would have given Sutter a solid resume, but it wasn’t to be.
“We killed ourselves early with three fumbles and a holding penalty, otherwise we were able to move the ball,” said Turner. “The kids battled right until the end.”
The Huskies, who are one of the teams featured in a new book called “80-yard run” by Theron Hopkins, have a tremendous home field advantage at Gadberry Field, much like the Celtics did in the Boston Garden during the 1960s. Fumbled balls always seem to bounce the Huskies’ way and no team in the Northern Section is better at turning turnovers into points than Sutter.
However it was the Huskies who had a hard time holding on to the ball in the first half. Sutter fumbled on the first play from scrimmage and Central Catholic was able to advance to the 5-yard line before a penalty stalled the drive. Hernandez’s 35-yard field goal attempt barely missed to the left, giving Sutter the ball at the 20.
On the next play, Robinson fumbled and David Biscevic picked it up on one bounce and returned it 25 yards for a touchdown.
Central Catholic forced Sutter to punt on its next possession and drove 89 yards on 11 plays for the score. James Orth scored on a 10-yard run to put the Raiders up 14-0 late in the opening period.
Another fumble by the Huskies at midfield helped the Raiders grab a 21-0 lead. This time Belton capped the drive with a 12-yard run with 5 minutes left in the half.
The Husky offense finally caught fire, covering 67 yards on four plays with Garcia hitting Dane Turner on a 22-yard scoring pass. Garcia ran in the two-point conversion cutting the Raiders’ lead to 21-8.
The Raiders nearly scored in the remaining 3 minutes, but an unusual set of circumstances worked against them. After a 43-yard pass from Swartz to Biscevic put the Raiders on the 15, they slowly pushed the ball to the 5 before Swartz tried another pass to the end zone on first down and goal. The Raiders were called for offensive pass interference on the play and Canepa was flagged for an additional 15 yards, giving the Raiders first and goal from the 35 with 13 seconds remaining.
Swartz found Biscevic at the 5-yard line and he leaped in front of two Sutter defenders to make the grab. The Huskies made the tackle and the clock stopped with four seconds left. However as the Raiders rushed to the line to try another play, the referees picked up the ball and signaled the end of the half because the clock shouldn’t have stopped after the long pass play.
“I’ve never been booed like that walking out of my own stadium at halftime,” said Turner. “But that was the right call. The clock should have run out because it was first and goal.”
Canepa felt a little differently.
“Everyone could see it. We should have been up 21 points at halftime,” said Canepa. “We couldn’t get a break.”
The late score gave Sutter the motivation it needed in the second half and it scored with 5:35 left in the third quarter on a 7-yard run by Robinson.
Central Catholic responded with a 69-yard drive that culminated in a 5-yard pass from Swartz to Orth with nine seconds left in the half.
That Sutter magic re-appeared on the ensuing kickoff as Dane Turner, the coach’s son, took the ball on a reverse from his own 10-yard line and raced 90 yards down the sideline for a touchdown on the final play of the quarter.
“That’s the second one we’ve given up in two weeks,” said Canepa. “That’s something we are going to work on.”
The two teams traded punts until the 7:03 mark when Sutter started its final drive of the game. Garcia, who accounted for 213 yards of offense on the night for the Huskies, connected with Turner for a 37-yard gain. He then carried on gains of 12 and 10 yards to get into the red zone. After a first-down pass to Brian Southers, Garcia handed off twice to Robinson for gains of 9 yards and 1 yard for the score.
That set up Central Catholic’s gamewinning drive and the kick by Hernandez.
Belton led the rushing attack for the Raiders with 95 yards on 22 carries. Swartz completed 12 of 23 passes for 146 yards and a touchdown.
Garcia completed 10 of 15 passes for 125 yards and rushed 14 times for 88 yards. Turner caught three passes for 73 yards. Sutter had 276 yards of total offense compared to 395 for Central Catholic.