The Atwater High football team marched 90 yards in 68 seconds as quarterback A.J. Banks capped the game-winning drive with a 6-yard touchdown pass to Charlie Whitby with 8 seconds left to lift the Falcons to a 29-26 win over Pitman on Friday night at Dave Honey Stadium.

 

Banks threw three touchdowns, connecting with tight end Vinny Valladao on a 26-yard strike and later a 45-yard score to Sylas Austin. However, the Falcons (3-2) found themselves trailing 26-22 with 1 minute and 18 seconds left in the game.

 

The Falcons turned to a trick play to help them march the length of the field. Jayden Ybarra took a handoff as Atwater sold a sweep play, but Ybarra stopped and threw a jump ball down field that Austin hauled in for a 40-yard gain that helped set up the game-winning score a few plays later. “It shouldn't have worked because we're not running the ball right there, but that's the only trick play we had,” said Atwater assistant coach Bob Valladao. “Jayden just kind of chucked it up and Sylas made a big catch.”

 

Valladao said it helped that the Falcons had already played two overtime games early on in the season. The close-game experience helped the players stay calm during the game-winning drive. “After five games, we know this team fights,” Valladao said. “Even in our loss last week the kids fought all the way to the end. We’ve got guys banged up, we’re dealing with a bunch of adversity, but this group knows how to fight.”

 

El Capitan 23, Waterford 20 – The Gauchos erased a 20-0 deficit to improve to 3-1 as Ian Reyes kicked a 24-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter that proved to be the game-winner for El Capitan. “We were at a spot where we either go for it or we trust our kicker and give the kid a shot,” said Gauchos head coach Xavier Ramirez. (Reyes) made it happen and I'm very proud of him. It’s his first year ever playing football too.”

 

Lorenzo Peters scored two touchdowns, rushing for one and scoring on a reception to help the Gauchos pull even. Charles Polk also scored on a touchdown catch from Gio Mendoza, who threw for 162 yards. “What I’'m most proud of is we stuck together,” Ramirez said. “We didn't finger point, we didn't blame the other guy. This team, they're still learning how to win games, and it's better that they're coming out on top while they’re learning.”

 

Livingston 24, Ceres 21 – Alexcito Avila kicked a 37-yard field goal in the final minute to propel the Wolves to their first victory over the season. Livingston (1-3, 1-0 Western Athletic Conference) shut out the Bulldogs in the second half to erase a 21-14 deficit at the break.

 

Livingston caught a break midway through the fourth quarter when the Wolves fumbled the ball into the end zone and Livingston’s offensive lineman Rishav Jairath pounced on the ball for a touchdown to tie the score at 21-21 with about 5 minutes left.

 

After Ceres missed a potential, go-ahead field goal, the Wolves drove down to set up their game-winning kick. “It's just hard to win a varsity football game, and then to go on the road and in a league game,” said Livingston head coach Steven Wine. “I don't think we played super well in the first half, but we played really well in the second half, especially defensively. So yeah, we needed this. The guys have been working hard, and it's tough when you don't see the results. This was good for them.”

 

Kimball 41, Golden Valley 19 – Isaiah Welch scored two touchdowns, but the Cougars dropped to 0-5 this season. Golden Valley quarterback Gabe Richards connected with Jaden Smith on a 40-yard touchdown pass for the Cougars' other score.

 

Lodi 20, Buhach Colony 14 – The Thunder blocked a field goal to set up their offense at their own 40-yard line with just over 1 minute left, but BC couldn’t put together a game-winning drive as the Thunder turned the ball over on downs to snap their two-game winning streak.

 

Charles Peterson scored on a 50-yard touchdown catch and a 75-yard kickoff return for Buhach Colony’s two scores. Buhach Colony will head into its bye week with a 2-3 record.

Shawn Jansen is the MUHSD Program Manager Digital Media. He can be reached at Sjansen@Muhsd.org.