By Johnathan Saller
(West Covina) – It wasn’t pretty, but it sure was exciting. West Covina escaped a furious comeback from South Hills at Thybers Field Friday night and held on for a 35-33 victory in a game that featured seven turnovers and looked out of reach late.
“I’m happy with our effort but we’ve got a long way to go to be a good football team,” West Covina head coach Mike Maggiore said.
At the beginning of the fourth quarter the Bulldogs had a comfortable 35-14 lead. Jimmy Frazier was on his way to a four touchdown, 242-yard performance and stable mate Aaron Salgado was bringing home the bacon himself with a score and 160-yards on 16 carries.
With 10:06 left in the game, Huskies signal-caller Vincent Hernandez threw a 24-yard score to tight end Brayton Newton but the PAT was blocked by Lonzell Barnett making it 35-20.
Salgado was a load all night. On his second touch of West Covina’s ensuing drive, he did what he had been doing, bursting through the Huskies front seven, finding the second level and pushing for more.
His 42-yard run put the Bulldogs in good position at the South Hills 20. Salgado got the rock on third down and was met in the backfield, trying to make something out of nothing Salgado broke free of a tackle only to be stripped by the next defender. Hernandez, playing both ways, scooped it up and ran 80-yards to breathe life into the Huskies making it 35-27 with 7:48 remaining.
After South Hills failed to convert on fourth down the Bulldogs took over at South’s 25-yard line. Looking to ice the game, Frazier broke through the line on third down but lost the handle. The Huskies recovered and suddenly the Bulldogs were in trouble.
On second down, receiver Jamie Canada ran a crossing pattern and hauled in a strike from Hernandez. Canada did the rest, breaking a few tackles and out running past the West Covina secondary on his way to a 69-yard score. Suddenly all South Hills needed was a two-point conversion to tie.
Hernandez took the snap and looked right for Canada. Under pressure from defensive end Justin Meaders, Hernandez scrambled to the right and tried to thread the needle to his receiver. The pass was broken up by Dorrin Turner and the Bulldogs locked up a 35-33 nail-biter.
“I didn’t want it to be that close. We did a pretty good job getting up on them by three touchdowns…we had the opportunity to score again, we just turned the ball over a couple times,” Maggiore said.
South Hills had other opportunities to pull out a win. Hernandez threw two of his three interceptions in the endzone and also had a fumble. The South Hills QB did however throw for 302-yards on 18/33 passing with three scores.
“We had our chances. They did a great a job and made our guys miss a couple times. They have great athletes,” South Hills head coach Steve Bogan said. “The greatest thing is…I don’t think anybody quit on this football field.”
Frazier had touchdowns of 64, 1, 65 and 58-yards.
“I have to give it up to my linemen, they setup the holes for me and I do what I gotta do to get to ‘em and big runs happen,” Frazier said of his big night.
West Covina (2-1) will see if “big runs happen” next week when it hosts Glendora. South Hills (1-2) is on the road at Monrovia.
Leave a Reply