Higher faculty soccer: Salinas takes edge of Clayton Valley Charter’s fourth-down gamble

Concord – Clayton Valley Constitution had its possibilities to defeat a hard and skilled Salinas team on Friday night, but was not in a position to discover the stop zone when it mattered most.

Down by a touchdown in the fourth quarter, the Unattractive Eagles on two events moved the ball inside of the Cowboys’ 20-lawn line. But Salinas turned them away each moments, together with once with a lot less than two seconds still left in regulation time to support pull out an outstanding 21-14 nonleague victory.

“We certainly had our alternatives,” Clayton Valley Charter coach Tim Murphy mentioned.

Clayton Valley’s past very best likelihood to tie the match came soon after it recovered a Salinas fumble with 2:03 still left in the fourth quarter and took over at its individual 49-property line.

Immediately after six plays, the Unattractive Eagles experienced 3rd down on the Cowboys’ 15 with 10.5 seconds to go, but a Christian Aguilar pass meant for Davin Amos just exterior the close zone was intercepted by senior Josiah Garnica, sealing the earn for Salinas.

Interception by Salinas with 1.9 seconds remaining to seal a 21-14 gain above Clayton Valley pic.twitter.com/pob3tFNvOr

— Curtis Pashelka (@CurtisPashelka) August 27, 2022

“I sense like we did drove the ball downfield truly well, in my impression. We just need to end, that is all,” explained Aguilar, who was participating in his 1st video game for his new university immediately after he transferred from Pittsburg previously this yr. “We did have a ton of momentum heading our way.”

With the game tied at 14, Salinas went in advance for fantastic with 27.3 seconds remaining in the 3rd quarter, as Cowboys senior quarterback Adam Shaffer scored on 5-garden run to entire a three-play, 29-yard drive.

Salinas experienced great subject place following the Unattractive Eagles elected to go for it on fourth down deep in their have territory. On 4th-and-8, although, an Aguilar pass fell incomplete.

Murphy has always had a distaste for punting, significantly when he beforehand ran a double-wing offense and routinely went for it on fourth down.

Clayton Valley experienced punted on its past two possessions ahead of the turnover on downs.

“I held striving to get my punter to do a specific thing on the punt and he just saved not performing it,” Murphy claimed. “So I stated, let’s just try out to go for it. I saw a thing that I considered was gonna be huge open up. It wasn’t.

“I’m normally a type of a fourth down man. But 3 punts in a row. I just could not acquire it any more. That’s a minimal considerably. But which is form of what I have normally aspired to do is make positive that we give our little ones all 4 downs. I always come to feel like punting is just a slight version of quitting, simply because you are supplying up the ball with a single far more down left.”

Equally Murphy and Aguilar outlined how dropped passes hurt the Unsightly Eagles, who are seeking to changeover into a extra balanced offensive workforce immediately after currently being largely operate-very first in modern seasons.

Aguilar and junior Mason Lovett alternated snaps at quarterback for the very first a few quarters, but Aguilar was beneath centre for most of the final 12 minutes. The two quarterbacks put together for 220 yards passing, and the Hideous Eagles added 160 yards on the ground.

Aguilar threw an 8-yard landing move to Hayezon Jackson with 5:35 left in the very first quarter to give the Unattractive Eagles a 6- guide, and Nick Khashabi scored from one yard out with 1:08 remaining in the first 50 percent to slice Salinas’ lead to 14-13.

Murphy reported he’ll continue to keep the two-quarterback process in put right until he feels 1 has demonstrably progressed ahead of the other.

“Obviously, we have received two great types,” Murphy stated. “I believe they equally have their positives. But we’ll almost certainly carry on to do this till a single just surpasses the other. We just never go dwell more than enough follow to seriously get a gauge on which quarterback is greater, but we’re gonna surely see it in game titles.”

It didn’t help Clayton Valley’s bring about that both of those Khashabi and fellow operating back Micah Avery skipped time late in the activity with cramping issues. The Unappealing Eagles also lost junior defensive finish Angel Gonzalez in the 2nd fifty percent to what Murphy was advised was a broken proper ankle.

The Unpleasant Eagles host Del Oro up coming Friday.