Border Battle breaks for Bulldogs
CALEXICO —The 2021 Battle of the Border between crosstown rivals Calexico and Vincent Memorial high schools was one of those games for which the phrase “instant classic” feels too cliché to be a compliment. A game with a win-expectancy chart like a sine wave, it came down, not just to the last seconds, but to the last inches as well.
In the end, the inches favored the Bulldogs, who edged the Scots 34-30 in one of the most entertaining football games of the season.
Vincent Memorial had the ball last — exactly how they wanted it. Or almost. The
Scots probably would’ve preferred to have had the ball last with a lead. Instead, they had it down 4 with around 2:30 left to play after Calexico’s senior QB Abram Zazueta had housed one from 8 yards out on a read-option keeper in which the Bulldogs and Scots were paging through different books … but still, this was a pretty good spot for Vincent to be in.
The Scots were starting at their own 40-yard line after the latest in a long-series of ultra-short Calexico kickoffs (special teams were an issue all game for the Bulldogs, with struggles in that department going a long way to keep Vincent afloat), and they had been moving the ball at a pretty clip since intermission.
Sophomore quarterback Jacobo Elias had bounced back from a rough first half that saw him complete just one pass total with three TDs through the air, and the degree of deviltry he showed on scrambles would have been more appropriate on Halloween than two days before.
Elias hadn’t been perfect by any stretch — back-to-back turnovers in the third quarter (an interception on an intermediate route by his counterpart Zazueta and a fumble on one of his patented scrambles) had each led to Calexico touchdowns, courtesy of senior bell cow back Ernesto Sanchez, and there had been several other near picks — but he had been electric in a way that belied even his eventual 12for-30, 200-yard, three-touchdown line.
More to the point, he knew that he could lead his team down the field in time to show the Bulldogs, who entered the night on a four-game losing streak vs. the Scots, that things weren’t about to change on his watch.
“It was a two-minute drill,” said Elias after the game. “We had the motivation … I knew we could make this happen … I wanted to do it for the seniors, in their last game. I wanted to do it for them.”
He came so close.
First came a shotgun snap that saw Elias scramble to midfield for a first down. A no-gainer on the ground and one of those near-picks (by junior DB Andres Ramirez) made it third-and-10, but then he found junior Armando Apodaca for two straight firsts. Things were going exactly according to script, but the clock was still running and the Scots had burned through all of their timeouts. So when the Bulldogs’ pass rush finally got to Elias with a gang sack one play later, dropping him at the Calexico 40, it felt like game over.
But it wasn’t, not quite. Always heady, Elias immediately tossed the ball to the referee, rushed to the line, and spiked it. There were 13 seconds left on the clock, known in some locales as “Hail Mary time.”
The Scots’ first attempt at getting 40 yards in one shot was batted down, leaving them with just six seconds.
Their second attempt, with six seconds left, saw Elias get immediately pressured, but star Calexico RB Sanchez, brought in specifically to leverage his speed as a gunner, merely became the latest victim of the Vincent QB’s Houdini act. As Elias bought time he saw junior wide-out Andre Rodriguez break free down the left sideline. His throw was a good 20-plus yards in the air and on the money. Rodriguez caught it. It looked like he was home free, that the Scots would dash the Bulldogs’ hopes yet again, maintaining their improbable dominance over the much bigger school.
But that’s not what happened. Instead, a favorable angle helped Calexico’s Pedro Cruz intersect with Rodriguez at around the 1-yard line. Rodriguez dove but was ruled down inches from pay dirt.
There was a moment of confusion as this ruling was confirmed and then relayed — Calexico in particular seemed unsure of whether to rejoice or despair — but once it was the Bulldog faithful exploded, while the Scots had to deal with the pangs of destiny thwarted.
Nobody felt better than Calexico’s Sanchez. He had done more than just about anybody to put his team in a position to win, rushing for over 200 yards on 22 carries
and tallying three TDs, but it had been his whiff on Elias, in part, that enabled Vincent’s almost-comeback.
“When I missed the sack and saw [Elias] throw the ball my heart just dropped,” Sanchez said, “Then I saw [Rodriguez] running toward the end zone and I saw him down near the pylon, I thought they were gonna call a touchdown … when they didn’t … there were so many emotions going through me at once.”
The Bulldogs’ next most significant contributor was quarterback/linebacker Zazueta, who threw only three times, but completed two for 23 yards while rushing for around 80 yards on 10 carries, two of which went for scores (including the go-ahead at 2:50) and had the crucial third-quarter interception of Elias.
The Bulldogs and the Scots have only been regular opponents since 2017 and the “Battle” moniker only cropped up within the past couple of seasons. This year was the first in which the rivalry was formally codified with one of those ever-popular traveling trophies (in this case a sharp looking hunk of black Corian fashioned to look like a border marker). But while the rivalry may still be in short pants when stacked against the history of some others, its name proved more than apt this week
After the game Zazueta bore witness to the fact that the energy around this Battle for the Border, felt different than in years past. Calexico came in with a swagger and intensity that they might not have had before, seeming to expect not just to compete, but to impose, which they did to sterling effect in the first quarter, which saw them smash mouths to perfection on the ground against the young, undermanned Scots’ en route to an early 14-0 lead. Even after penalties and special teams mishaps, could have allowed “same old Calexico” demons to rear their heads the Bulldogs kept plugging ahead, for which gave some credit to the raucous crowd.
“Their energy was great,” Zazueta said “It hyped us up
… [and] after the last play, I heard them roar, and I was like, ‘OK, now I can celebrate.’”
Fittingly for two teams that played such a close game, the Bulldogs and the Scots finish the year with identical 5-5 records, with Calexico finishing 1-3 in the Imperial Valley League and Vincent going 2-2 in the Desert.
Calexico will fight on, having earned a spot in the CIF-San Diego Section Division V playoffs. They are scheduled to play Maranatha Christian next Friday at home.
For Vincent, it’s wait ’ til next year.