San Ramon Valley 43, Monte Vista 36
What: North Coast Section Div. I quarterfinal
Key play: Southwick's 25-yard TD strike to Peterson with 2:38 left
Key stat: Monte Vista 7 turnovers, San Ramon Valley 0
Combined yards: 955
Combined passing yards: 812
State rankings: San Ramon Valley No. 30, Monte Vista No. 35
By Mitch Stephens
MaxPreps.com
DANVILLE, Calif. – A reporter approached former national high school Player of the Year and University of Miami standout Kyle Wright on the sideline late in the fourth quarter.
“Remind you of anything?” he was asked.
“Yes,” Wright said. “But the wrong team is winning.”
The “wrong” Danville team beat Wright’s right team for the second time in three weeks as San Ramon Valley defeated host Monte Vista 43-36 in a North Coast Section Division I quarterfinal shootout on Friday night.
This rivalry game featured 955 yards, 812 of it and nine touchdowns through the air in an epic battle between stellar quarterbacks, San Ramon Valley senior Joe Southwick and Monte Vista junior Brett Nottingham, and a host of standout receivers.
The game and duel was utterly reminiscent of what many around these parts said might be the greatest game ever played, a 46-44 Monte Vista victory in 2002. Then it was Wright who out-dueled future Arizona State and Nebraska standout Sam Keller in a game that featured 700 yards of passing and 10 touchdowns.
Wright (49ers) and Keller (Raiders) each have had NFL tryouts and are each just one season removed from the college game.
Southwick, a cool, fast, pinpoint passer who has committed to Boise State, was at the Wright-Keller match-up. He was a sixth-grader at the time.
“I couldn’t wait to play high school football and emulate them,” he told the San Francisco Chronicle’s Will McCulloch earlier this month.
On Friday, he not only emulated, he might have been better. At least on this night.
The 6-foot-2, 185-pound Southwick completed 21 of 30 passes for 426 yards and four touchdowns, rushed for two more and when called in late to play secondary, he intercepted a pass to help seal the deal and advance the Wolves (10-2), the defending NCS 3A champs, into a semifinal game next week against Pittsburg.
“That was a great shootout,” Southwick said after Friday’s game. “Wow, 43-36. You can’t ask more than that.”
Folks in Northern California are asking if this was actually a better shootout and duel than the famed Keller-Wright slingfest.
Consider it all:
The Wolves had three receivers with six catches or more: Byron Gruendl (6-175-one TD), Bryce Peterson (7-162-2) and Brett Trimble (7-86-1). Peterson caught the game-winner, a 25-yard strike from Southwick with 2 minutes, 38 seconds remaining to break up a 36-36 deadlock.
Like the game two weeks ago - a 24-7 San Ramon Valley upset victory, Monte Vista had more yards and first downs, 510 and 26. The Mustangs also got big numbers and performances from Nottingham (29 of 44, 386 yards, five touchdowns), wide receiver Tom Hemmingsen (7 catches, 190 yards, 3 TDs) and third-string running back Chris Borges (25 rushes, 126 yards).
But like the last game, it couldn’t overcome the turnover bug, this time with a lethal seven – three lost fumbles in the first quarter leading to a 16-0 deficit, and four interceptions – two by Nick Russo and one each from Southwick and Peterson.
In the game two weesk ago, the Mustangs had 427 yards of offense but four turnovers to none for San Ramon Valley.
Two games: Monte Vista 11 turnovers, San Ramon Valley 0.
No wonder the Wolves are moving on and Monte Vista (8-3), which was near perfect for nine weeks of the season, is out without a playoff win.
“Really, seven turnovers?” Monte Vista coach Craig Bergman kept asking. “Seven? Wow. I knew we dug our selves a hole with those fumbles. Those were inexcusable. If you’re minus seven in turnovers and only lose by seven… the kids definitely played hard.”
Indeed, the Wolves looked like they had this one locked up when Southwick ran in his second touchdown, a 2-yard run to cap a 72-yard drive to start the third quarter. That made it 36-14 with 9:56 left in the third quarter.
“We knew (Monte Vista) would be angry at halftime and yelling at each other that they don’t want their season to end,” Southwick said. “But we took it the other way and said we don’t want our season to end. We wanted to take it to them.”
But Monte Vista, which averaged an East Bay-best 450 yards per game on the season, finally started holding on to the ball and got some defensive stops while scoring 22 unanswered points.
The ultra-elusive Hemmingsen started it off with a fantastic catch and remarkable 68-yard run for a touchdown with 7:38 left in the third. He broke at least four tackles along the way.
An onside kick worked, but a Russo’s second interception gave San Ramon Valley the momentum back.
The Wolves went 3-and-out again and the Mustangs went 78 yards in 16 plays, capped by a 17-yard toss from Nottingham to Stanford-bound tight end Zach Ertz, closing the gap to 36-27 with 32 seconds left in the third.
The extra point failed which kept it a two-possession game, but Azziz Ikharo sacked Southwick in the end zone for a safety cutting the lead to 36-29 with 11:38 left in the game.
“Never saw him,” Southwick said.
After a pair of three-and-outs, Monte Vista rode the legs of Borges, a hard-charging but slight 5-8, 140-pound back pressed into duty with injuries to leading rusher Greg Johnson and Cal-bound fullback/linebacker David Wilkerson, and the passing of Nottingham to tie the game on a 27-yard touchdown pass to Hemmingsen.
Borges had four carries on the drive for 32 yards and Nottingham was 3-for-4 for 62 yards, including a pair of 27-yarders to Hemmingsen, the latter tying the game 36-36 with 4:50 remaining.
“I didn’t think I’d have that big of role (in the game) but I just gave it my best shot,” Borges said. “We all did. The turnovers killed us but we fought to the bitter end. You have to give it up to San Ramon Valley and Southwick. He’s a great athlete.”
After his team’s last three drives mustered all of six yards, Southwick promptly directed an 80-yard game-winning touchdown march in six plays. Southwick fired completions of 8 and 30 yards to Peterson and a 12-yarder to Trimble, setting up the game-winning play.
Southwick rolled left and nothing was open. Then …
“I was going to run it right and just then I saw (Peterson) waving his arms wide open in the right corner. I just chucked it to him," Southwick said. "The thing I’m most proud of in this game was that last drive. We were stopped the last three drives but with everything on the line we could put it all together was huge.”
They had put it together early thanks largely to short fields and got scoring tosses of 26 and 9 yards to Trimble and Peterson plus a 31-yard field goal by Grant Vandevanter to take a 16-0 lead.
Monte Vista gained some momentum on a 10-yard TD pass to Taylor Brewster, but the Wolves took it right back when Gruendl took a short pass in the flat and turned it into a 66-yard touchdown with 6:04 left in the second quarter.
“We have great receivers who make big plays and are great leaders,” San Ramon Valley coach Dave Kravitz said.
Unlike the big-play Wolves, Monte Vista rattled off six first downs and got a 9-yard TD passing from Nottingham to Hemmingsen, again giving the Mustangs some life, trailing just 22-14.
Once again, the Wolves countered on another 80-yard march, keyed by a 24-yard catch and run by Trimble and 3rd-and-10 from the 20. Following a 37-yard strike to Gruendl to the 1, Southwick snuck it home and San Ramon Valley had all the momentum back going into halftime, up 29-14.
“We had three losses in the regular season but when you enter the playoffs everyone is 0-0,” Gruendl said. “We’re on a roll now. We believe in each other. We’re on fire and focused plus we have great leaders. I’m proud to be teammates of every one on this team.”
San Ramon Valley won its first six games, then endured a three-game slide, but to three very good teams, two that are still alive, Foothill (9-2) and De La Salle (10-1). The third was to California, which has losses to nationally-ranked De La Salle and Bellevue (Wash.) and which was eliminated Saturday by Pittsburg (10-1).
“I told the team (during the slide) to just right the ship and stick with it and obviously they did,” Kravitz said. “We have some very special leaders on this team. They refuse to lose. Nobody except us expected us to come in here and beat Monte Vista a second time.
“I told them tonight they had nothing to lose because no one is giving them any credit. We knew coming in we were a very good team. I told them beforehand to prove that we are a (darn) good team.”
Southwick’s feet and right arm obviously push them to that “darn” level.
“There’s a reason why he’s going to one of the best college programs in America,” Kravitz said. “The kid is special and flat out competitive and smart.”
San Ramon Valley 43, Monte Vista 36
San Ramon Valley 16 13 7 7 - 43
Monte Vista 0 14 13 9 - 36
First quarter
SRV – Trimble 26 pass from Southwick (Vandevanter kick), 6:41
SRV – FG, Vandevanter 31, 2:42
SRV – Peterson 9 pass from Southwick (kick failed), 0:40
Second quarter
MV – Brewster 10 pass from Nottingham (Brendan Garcia kick), 6:32
SRV – Gruendl 66 pass from Southwick (kick failed), 6:04
MV – Hemmingsen 9 pass from Nottingham (Garcia kick), 1:29
SRV – Southwick 1 run (Vandevanter kick), 0:30
Third quarter
SRV – Southwick 2 run (Vandervanter kick), 9:50
MV – Hemmingsen 68 pass from Nottingham (Garcia kick), 7:38
MV – Ertz 17 pass from Nottingham (kick failed), 0:53
Fourth quarter
MV – Safety, Southwick tackled in end zone by Ikharo, 11:38
MV - Hemmingsen 27 pass from Nottingham (Garcia kick), 4:50
SRV – Peterson 25 pass from Southwick (Vandevanter kick), 2:38
Team Statistics
First downs: SRV 13, MV 26
Rushes-yards: SRV 18-19, MV 41-126
Passing: SRV 21-30-0-426, MV 29-44-4-386
Total yards: SRV 445, MV 510
Turnovers: SRV 0, MV 7
Penalties: SRV 3-25, MV 3-45
Individual statistics
Rushing
SRV, Trimble 5-11, Southwick 13-8; MV, Borges 25-126, Wilkerson 5-24, Johnson 1-0, Nottingham 10-(-26).
Passing
SRV, Southwick 21-30-0-426; MV, Nottingham 29-44-4-386.
Receiving
SRV, Peterson 7-162, Trimble 7-86, Gruendl 6-175, Bradley 1-3; MV, Hemmingsen 7-190, Tuckness 7-72, Brewster 6-54, Ertz 6-44, Labarbera 3-26.