By Tim Peterson
(Ontario) – Ronal Tebo Jr. bulled into the endzone with 21 seconds left in the final quarter and Joseph Gutierrez booted the extra point to give Northview an improbable 27-26 win over Colony Saturday night in the D-4 Regional Bowl at Colony High School.
The Vikings erased a 19 point deficit early in the third quarter with a touchdown in the third quarter and two more in the fourth.
Northview stopped Colony on fourth down at the Viking 25 and took over at that spot with 5:59 left in the fourth quarter. The Vikes then put together a 14-play, 75 yard drive with Tebo Jr. slamming in from the one and Gutierrez kicking the game winner.
Colony had one last shot but AJ Jones’ fourth down pass fell incomplete and the Vikings celebration was on.
“We just keep playing. We’ve done something that’s never been done before at Northview,” said Viking head coach Marcel Perez.
While Tebo and Cheo Medina pounded the ball during he drive quarterback James Arellanes made a couple of big throws. He hit Erik Saiz on a fourth and seven for ten yards at the Northview 41 for a first down. Arellanes also hit Saiz for 24 yards and connected with Mike Cervantes for a first down at the Colony eight yard line to set up Tebo Jr.’s touchdown.
The Vikings scored first on a seven-yard run by Tebo Jr. to finish a 96-yard drive with 3:28 left in the first quarter.
Colony responded when Bryce Strong scored on a 12-yard run to cap a 60-yard drive with 5:47 left in the second quarter. The Titans then hit Northview with two big plays. First Jones broke off an 80-yard run for a touchdown outrunning the Northview secondary for a 13-7 lead. Just over a minute later Jamari Johnson took a screen pass from Jones and tuned it into a 59-yard score.
Two touchdowns in a minute and 23 seconds and Colony took a 20-7 lead into the break.
Strong then returned the opening kickoff of the second half 93 yards to the house and the Titans were up 26-7. Things looked bleak for Northview but Perez’ crew slowly and methodically got back into it.
With 7:49 left in the third Tebo Jr., who had all four touchdowns, got his second of the night on a two-yard run to make it 26-13.
Northview marched 75 yards on 13 plays with Tebo Jr. scoring on a four-yard run early in the fourth to make it 26-20. The Vikings defense then held on fourth down and the offense duplicated the 75-yard drive – this time in 14 plays to pull out the victory.
Northview rushed for 234 yards in the ground with Medina, the Vikings leading ground gainer, accounting for 159 yards on 29 carries Tebo had 61 and four touchdowns 14 carries.
Jones threw for 128 yards and a score for Colony and ran for 105 yards including the 80 yard touchdown.
Northview now advances to the D-4A Regional Final next week in San Francisco while Colony finishes the season with a Division 9 CIF title and an overall record of 8-7.
Don’t you think we should have a router bus or buses?
Congratulations Northview more then happy to have been part of your game it was a surreal experience best of luck on next weeks game