Golden grit: Cougars edge Buhach Colony for first victory of the season.
As Buhach Colony’s 30-yard field goal attempt in the final minute fell short, the Golden Valley football sideline erupted. Coaches and players were jumping up and down, exchanging hugs and GV head coach Rick Martinez was getting doused with water bottles by his players.
The Cougars edged Buhach Colony 20-19 for their first victory of the season. After shaking hands at the 50-yard line, the Cougars celebrated some more in their end zone. Martinez even started dancing as his players gathered around. “We’re trying to change the culture and this kind of vindicates what we’re doing,” said Martinez, whose team improved to 1-6 overall and 1-1 in the Central California Conference. “We’re trying to set a standard, trying to hold a line, this shows it’s possible to do it.”
After an 0-6 start, Martinez said the message to his team this week was stick with it. “There was a lot about don’t quit yet, don’t quit yet,” Martinez said. “If you quit now you’re going to quit everything you do. We have to stick to the grind.”
The Cougars pulled off the victory with some big plays from their stars like Jaren Bell, Isaiah Welch and Gabe Richards. Bell hauled in two touchdown passes from Richards, including a 56-yard touchdown pass that gave Golden Valley a 20-19 lead with 2:35 left in the third quarter. Bell didn’t try to hide his excitement after the game. “I’m super pumped,” he said. “I’m filled with a lot of emotion, I’m filled with a lot of joy. Our season isn’t over. We’re still coming to practice every day, ready to work.”
The Cougars had to battle from behind for most of the game as Buhach Colony (3-4 overall, 1-1 CCC) opened the scoring with a 28-yard touchdown pass from Dayton Fitzgerald to Charles Peterson with 9:19 left in the first half. Golden Valley briefly tied the game at 7-7 after Richards connected with Bell on a 1-yard touchdown pass with 2:03 left in the half.
However, Fitzgerald found Peterson again for a 22-yard touchdown with 22 seconds left in the half as the Thunder took a 13-7 lead into the half.
The Cougars received contributions from their defense too as they recovered a Buhach Colony fumble early in the second half. Welch then broke free for a 40-yard touchdown run on the next play to pull GV even at 13-13 with 8:38 left in the third quarter. “Offense, defense and special teams all came up big tonight,” Welch said. “Everybody was locked in for us.”
Fitzgerald gave Buhach Colony the lead again as he threw his third touchdown of the game, connecting with Aedyn Bighom on a 19-yard scoring strike. The Thunder opted to go for a two-point conversion but they were stopped short and settled for a 19-13 lead with 3:30 left in the third quarter.
The lead didn’t last long as Golden Valley needed just two plays for Richards to find Bell for the 56-yard touchdown pass. The Cougars make the extra-point kick for the 20-19 lead.
The Thunder had two chances to score in the fourth quarter. They drove down to the Golden Valley 3-yard line, but the Cougars defense came up with the stop on fourth down at the 2-yard line to preserve the lead.
The Buhach Colony defense then forced a punt after a three-and-out on the Cougars’ following possession. The Thunder offense took over at the Golden Valley 36-yard line with 5:18 left. Buhach Colony picked up two first downs, but then had to try to the 30-yard field goal attempt that fell short.
Bell said even though the season hasn’t gone their way they weren’t ready to stop competing. “We still know how much work we put in this, and we know that we're going to play our heart out regardless,” Bell said.
Shawn Jansen is the MUHSD Program Manager Digital Media. He can be reached at Sjansen@muhsd.org.