Emily Gallegos came up with the highlight catch in the end zone and teammate Jayden Cardoso sealed the victory with a sack as the Buhach Colony High girls flag football team defeated Atwater 22-21 in a wild quadruple overtime thriller at Buhach Colony’s stadium on Tuesday night.

 

The BC student section rushed the field to celebrate with the Thunder players as Buhach Colony improved to 11-2 overall and 2-0 in the Central California Conference. It’s the first time the Thunder have defeated Atwater in flag football. The Falcons were 6-0 against BC in the previous three seasons.

 

“Seeing the girls perform like that is great because they try so hard and they care so much,” said Thunder coach Curtis McClure. “They want to be good and sometimes it doesn't go our way. Seeing the work they put in and their passion,  and then for it to actually come down to this in these big games, to see them make those good plays, you can't be any happier as a coach. It's like you're proud of your own kids.”

 

Gallegos turned in a monster effort, rushing for a short touchdown to start the throwing and then turning a short pass into a 55-yard touchdown as she zigged and zagged her way through the Falcons defense going from one sideline to the other. 

 

“I see that gap, and I know that I'm gone,” said Gallegos, who also hauled in three receptions in the end zone on conversion plays. “I just love to go. Everybody knows I go back and forth on that field, and that's how it works, I see a lane and I go.”

 

The Falcons (9-7, 1-1 CCC) battled back as quarterback Kaylee Gunnin connected with Charlotte Tucker for a 5-yard touchdown pass. Gunnin then ran in the conversion to pull the Falcons within 13-7 with 15 seconds left in the first half.

 

Tucker then came up with a huge play when the referees ruled that Buhach Colony quarterback Lesli Gutierrez bobbled the ball and Atwater’s Charlotte Tucker snatched the ball in the air and raced 55 yards for a touchdown to tie the game at 13-13 with 6:03 left in the fourth quarter.

 

The game remained tied at the end of regulation. Both teams got a possession at the 10-yard line with four plays to try to score in the first overtime period. The Thunder had the ball first and Gutierrez found Gardoso open in the end zone on an 8-yard touchdown pass. Gutierrez connected with Gallegos for the conversion to give BC a 20-13 lead.

Atwater responded as Gunnin ran in a 10-yard touchdown on third down on its overtime possession. Gunnin then found Valencia Villalobos in the end zone for the conversion to tie the game at 20-20 and sent it to double overtime.

 

The extra overtime rules are similar to college football with each team getting an opportunity to score from the 3-yard line until one team wins. Neither team was able to score in the second overtime.

 

Gallegos hauled in a pass to score for the Thunder in the third overtime. However, Atwater’s Gabriella Garcia was able to pull down a pass to tie the game at 21-21.

 

Gutierrez again went to Gallegos in the fourth overtime and the Thunder star went up high to snag the pass to give BC a 22-21 lead. “I knew I had to catch it,” Gallegos said. “I was like, this is my time. I saw the pass and I jumped as high as I could and I got it.” 

 

Gunnin dropped back to throw on Atwater’s possession, but Cardoso dove and was able to pull her flag for the game-winning sack. 

 

“That’s the first time I rushed so it was insane,” Cardoso said. “I was just doing what I could. I saw (Gunnin) break down, and she was looking to throw the ball. I laid out for it, and I got it. For a second, I didn't know I got the flag. I had no idea, and then I looked at my hand, and I saw that I had it. I just got up and started looking at my team and they were celebrating.”

 

The Thunder players were soon celebrating with their fans. “It was nerve-wracking,” Gallegos said. “We've never been in overtime. I didn't know how the rules work. I just kept going until everyone started screaming that we won. The fact that it's Atwater too. Doing it against Atwater on our home turf, having a student section, having all of our support. We couldn’t ask for anything more. We wanted to do it for everyone, we’ve been working so hard, we wanted it.”

 

Merced 56, Los Banos 0 – Bears quarterback Antonia Lejarde threw two touchdown passes to Averie Steverson to lead the onslaught as Merced improved to 14-2 overall and 2-0 in the CCC.

 

Golden Valley 20, El Capitan 14 – The Cougars edged the Gauchos Amirah Gonzalez’s three touchdown passes to improve to 1-1 in the CCC. Gonzalez twice connected with Mahel Kahlon on scoring strikes of 36 and 21 yards. Gonzalez also threw a touchdown to Ajaya Hudson for 61 yards. 

 

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