Andrew Elfers connected with Josh Jones on a two-point coversion with 43.8 seconds left to give the Minutemen the victory over Salesian at Keegan Stadium Saturday night.
“We made the decision to go for two in the last minute,” said Maranatha HC Joel Murphy.
The Minutemen had fallen behind at the 7:03 mark of the fourth quarter when Salesian quarterback Jihad Vercher hit Michael Lim with a hitch pass that Lim took 39-yards for the go ahead score to make it 28-21.
The game winning drive began with Maranatha at its own 42 with 2:41 to play.
Chris Cornell went for 15-yards and then another four on back to back carries. Four plays later he took a screen from Elfers 26-yards to the Mustangs six. Another carry by Cornell brought the ball to four with the clock continuing to run and the Minutemen out of timeouts.
Elfers rolling right looking for Jones in the corner of the end zone instead threw back to the middle of the field and hit Mark Jebbia for the score. The touchown, Jebbia’s third on the night, brought Maranatha to within one at 28-27.
Murphy specifically asked for the ball to be placed on the left hash as the decision to go for the two was finalized. Elfers again rolled to his right with the snap and threaded a bullet between defenders to Jones in the back of the end zone.
Salesian reached the scoreboard first when Vercher went 21-yards to Lim.
The Minutemen evened things midway through the second when Jebbia intercepted a pass and returned it 80-yards to paydirt.
The tie at the start of the third quarter lasted only 16 seconds as the Mustangs Gregory Castillo took the second half kick-off 90-yards and it was 14-7.
Less than a minute later Elfers hit Jebbia deep for a 64-yard touchdown and the game was tied again. Maranatha kept the pressure on early in the fourth when Elfers went to Jones from 18-yards to take a 21-14 lead.
The Mustangs rallied on another great throw from Vercher 25-yards to Mark Aguilar and the game was tied again.
On the ensuing kick-off as Salesian was attempting to squib kick the ball it pinballed off of Cornell directly into the arms of Davon Moreland and the home team was back in business at its own 49. Three plays later Vercher went to Lim for the go ahead score.
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