Benicia comeback falls short
Panthers commit 7 turnovers, still had chance to rally before losing to Acalanes
A football team with seven turnovers seemingly only has a remote chance to come back.
Benicia High School, however, miraculously found itself down just six points with just under seven minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
The Panthers, unfortunately, would not get any closer and fell to visiting Acalanes, 27-21, in their third Diablo Athletic League Foothill Division game of the spring season.
“The good news is that we battled the entire time,” said Benicia head coach Craig Holden. “After the third or fourth fumble or interception whatever they were, we could have easily put our head in the sand and gone ‘this game is over.’ We fumbled on the 1-yard line, we fumbled on the 15-yard line. We didn’t do something on fourth down somewhere inside the 30-yard line.”
The Panthers (1-2) trailed 20-0 at one point in the second quarter, but Benicia finally pieced a drive together late in the first half. Junior running back Janari Boone scored from a yard out and Nicholas Ruiz kicked the extra point to cut the Dons’ lead to 20-7 with 14 seconds left.
A Brode Alava 16-yard run got the drive started and a 15-yard facemask call on Acalanes (3-1) got the Panthers to first-and-goal at the 8-yard line.
The Dons scored on their opening possession of the third quarter as well with quarterback
“We watched (Benicia) on film and they blitz a lot. We were expecting blitz and our quarterback was checking off. Benicia did a good job. They took away some things that we were trying to do.”
— Floyd Burnsed,
Acalanes head coach.
Brady Huchingson firing a 27-yard touchdown strike to Evan Malmquist despite a sturdy hit from Boone, the linebacker. The PAT increased the lead to 27-7.
Huchingson connected on touchdown strikes of 83 and 34 to Dante Montgomery and scored himself on a 28-yard keeper in the first half. He finished with 273 passing yards on 19 of 38 throwing.
“Tough kid, good athlete,” said Acalanes head coach Floyd Burnsed about Huchingson, who has gotten some interest from Oregon State. “He loves football. He wants to play at the next level. He works hard.”
The Panthers, however, came right back later in the quarter when Landon Croinex recovered an Acalanes’ fumble at the Dons’ 11-yard line. Two plays later, Boone took a pitch and ran it in from 4 yards out to help close the deficit to 27-14.
Benicia finally made it a one-score game on a 30yard touchdown pass from Tyson Wallace to Joseph Zimmer with 6:58 left in the fourth quarter. Zimmer’s defender fell down on the play.
The momentum seemed to be swinging Benicia’s way after a hard Boone hit on Huchingson on third down stopped the Dons, who were forced to punt. The Panthers reached Acalanes’ 38yard line on their next possession but turned the ball over on downs after a Wallace incompletion.
Benicia forced one more punt in the waning minute but Acalanes sacked Wallace on third down on the next drive and recovered its fourth and final fumble of the night.
Wallace finished with 147 yards passing on 12 of 28 throwing with three interceptions and one touchdown.
Alava ran for a teamhigh 114 yards on 10 carries to lead the Panthers’ run game. Alava had a 60-yard jaunt early in the second quarter to give the Panthers first-and-goal at the 5-yard line. On the very next play Wallace tried to sneak the ball into the end zone near the right pylon but fumbled. The officials ruled a touchback for Acalanes as the Dons gained possession at the 20-yard line.
“If he didn’t break the plane and he fumbled out of the end zone, that’s a touchback,” Holden said. “I’m about 30 yards away so I couldn’t really tell if he crossed the plane. It looks like he reached the ball out and who knows if it crossed or not.”
Holden acknowledged that play hasn’t happened often.
“You hope it doesn’t happen, especially when it goes against you,” Holden said, chuckling. “I’m going to tell you — that was a painful one.”
Despite Huchingson’s huge game, Benicia did a better job against him defensively in the second half.
“We watched (Benicia) on film and they blitz a lot,” Burnsed said. “We were expecting blitz and our quarterback was checking off. Benicia did a good job. They took away some things that we were trying to do.”
Holden was impressed with Boone’s performance, on both sides of the ball.
“He gives full, maximum effort on every play, whether it’s on defense or offense,” the coach said. “That kid doesn’t come off the field. He’s a full-go, fulltime and one heck of a football player.”