Dragons grab a victory on the final play

DANVILLE >> In the five years Napoleon Kaufman has coached at Bishop O’Dowd High, the Dragons have come out to Contra Costa County time and again to test their luck.

Those trips through the Caldecott Tunnel hadn’t worked out very well. Bishop O’Dowd was 0-5 going into Friday night’s contest at Monte Vista.

It looked like more of the same until ninth-ranked Bishop O’Dowd scored 10 points in the final 4:27 of the fourth quarter and rallied to beat No. 8 Monte Vista (3-1) 17-16. Sophomore Gabriel Plascencia kicked an 18-yard field as time expired for the winning points.

Monte Vista had the game in hand for three quarters. The Mustangs led 16-7 going into the final period, and their defense was nails against Stanford-bound running back Austin Jones. But on Bishop O’Dowd’s final two possessions, Jones and senior receiver Jelani Warren took over.

Jones ran nine times for 48 yards, just short of half the 107 rushing yards he accumulated for the evening. He also caught a 12yard pass.

Warren caught a 56-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Moe Flynn with 4:27 to go that cut the lead to 16-14. He also scored Bishop O’Dowd’s first touchdown on a 27-yard pass from Flynn early in the third quarter that made it 9-7.

Monte Vista led 9-0 at halftime on three Matthew Hoffman field goals, the longest being 41 yards. After O’Dowd (3-1) cut the lead to two, Monte Vista made it 16-7 with 2:13 left to play in the third quarter on a 55-yard pass from quarterback Jack Stewardson to sophomore running back Gavin Cribb.

“It feels really good to win this game,” said Warren, who caught four passes for 95 yards. “This was a real hostile environment. They had a really great crowd.”

Monte Vista dominated the first half to the tune of a 195-53 advantage in total yards.