By Alex A. Gonzalez
Covina – With the ball placed at the 25-yardline at Covina Valley District field, South Hills’ quarterback Fabian Marez needed only one play to score the game-winning touchdown when his pass connected with Isaiah Castellano, who then took it to the house for the go-ahead score in the Huskies 29-22 overtime win over Santa Fe in front of a ruckus crowd Friday night.
“I mean, that was big. Man, Isaiah, he got good feet, good eyes, so give him the ball,” Said Marez when talking about the overtime play. “He made something happen, and we got the dub.”
Despite the Huskies forcing four turnovers in their Week 4 matchup against the Sentinels, the defense couldn’t contain the Aiden Garate-Jeremiah Norman connection on their final drive, which sent the game into overtime.
The two connected on a 4th-and-short play on the Husky 34-yardline that went for 18 yards after Norman broke two tackles and dragged another defender up until the 16-yardline. Four plays later, Giovanni Garcia took the handoff from the 1-yard line and punched in his only rushing score of the night. Then the game got tied at 22 after Garate opted to keep the rock and sneak into the endzone with 22 seconds remaining in regulation.
With the ball spotted at their 35-yardline and 22 seconds remaining, South Hills did have one last chance at kicking a game-winning field goal. After missing his first two pass attempts on the drive, Marez connected with Isaiah Castellano, who then executed the hook-and-ladder play by pitching the ball to Jacob Gallardo, who then outran the defense to the Santa Fe 24-yardline.
After a slew of timeouts called by both squads, Jude Vakian lined up for a 46-yard field goal attempt, but his kick was short as the final buzzer sounded in regulation.
The Huskies won the toss and elected to have possession first. And they wasted no time retaking the lead on the cool Friday night. On the first play, Marez took the shotgun snap, connected with Castellano on the wide side of the field, who then slipped through the Sentinel defense for the touchdown.
Then on Santa Fe’s first possession, the offense sputtered out on their first two plays, gaining just five yards. After Norman’s pass fell incomplete on third down, Santa Fe tried to get a quick first down on their final play, but Norman’s pass fell incomplete again, ending the hopes of forcing a second overtime.
From the start, neither team could build momentum. The Huskies were the first to strike in the first quarter when Dyshaun Smock picked off Norman’s pass and returned it 72 yards for the touchdown.
The game then got tied at seven at the 9:33 mark of the second quarter when Derek Melendrez took the handoff and bulldozed his way in for the score.
Then just before the intermission, South Hills regained the lead when the offense orchestrated an 8-play, 76-yard drive. On the drive, Marez completed four of his five pass attempts, with his last pass going for a touchdown when he threw a perfect over-the-shoulder pass to Maxal Rodriguez from 13 yards out. Marez ended the night with 185 yards passing while completing 10 of 17 attempts.
The Sentinels then tied the game at 14 with nine seconds left in the third quarter when Garate launched a deep pass to the right side of the field from 31 yards out. Marez ended the night with 227 yards passing on 14 of 22 passing attempts with 1TD and 3 INTs.
“It’s amazing, I mean, we came out in the week with a great game plan,” commented Marez postgame. “I didn’t think the game was going to go like this, but you know, things happen. We fought all the way to the end.”
With the win, South Hills extends their winning streak to four games and will start Hacienda League play on Oct. 2 when they host Covina. South Hills will look to end their 4-game losing streak on Oct. 2 when they start Mid-Cities League play by hosting Bellflower.
Santa Fe Starting O-Line
RT Gavin M. Carbajal
RG Nicholas Meco Bonilla
C Jason Arias
LG Mario Figueroa
LT Jonathan Borjon
South Hills Starting O-line
RT Dominic Gonzalez
RG Diego Juarez
C Jacob Marquez
LG Daniel Godinez
LT Cody Tuitoelau
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