Scots eke out 14-12 win over El Cajon Valley
EL CENTRO — Jacobo Elias rushed for 71 yards, threw for 190 more, threw a touchdown pass, rushed for another and scored two PATs to lead his Vincent Memorial Catholic High School Scots to a 14-12 win Friday.
The game, a non-league match against the El Cajon Valley High School Braves, was similar to the Scots loss a week ago to the Southwest High School Eagles — a close battle to the end, but this time the Eagles finished on top.
“We needed to work harder and execute at the end,” Elias said of Friday’s game, “close out the game properly.”
On Friday, the Scots closed out the game properly, holding off the Braves on a late-game rally with 6:30 left in
the contest. El Cajon Valley moved from its own 25-yard line to inside Vincent Memorial’s 30. On fourth down, the Braves had no option but to pass, needing 20 yards for a first down.
Braves quarterback senior Daniel Jacobs lobbed up a pass to senior wide receiver Ruben Cosio but Vincent Memorial’s Luis Vellatti was right there to battle for the ball. It appeared that Vellatti intercepted the pass, but the ball was wrestled away by Cosio as the two fell to the ground. The referees awarded the reception to Cosio, however, it didn’t make a difference since the Braves were 5 yards short of a first down and turned the ball over to the Scots on downs.
Vincent Memorial turned the ball over with a punt again, but with 42.1 seconds left in the game, held on for the win.
“We’re still a very young, inexperienced team,” said Scots Head Coach David Wong. “We can move the ball, but at the end we are not capitalizing, scoring like we usually or normally do.”
The Braves opened the scoring with a rushing touchdown with 4:55 left in the first quarter.
The Scots answered in the second quarter with a scoring drive that included passes to senior wide receiver Diego Elorduy and junior wide receiver Armando Apodaca of 25 and 40 yards, respectively.
That set up a 2-yard touchdown pass from Elias to Apodaca. Elias added the PAT, and the Scots led 7-6 with 31 seconds left in the second quarter.
The Braves retook the lead, 12-7, with another rushing touchdown and missed 2-point conversion with 1:45 left in the third quarter.
Elias regained the lead for the Scots with a 2-yard scamper up the middle. He also added the PAT to make the score 14-12 with 11:55 left in the game.
Also for the Scots, Elorduy had seven catches for 57 yards, and Apodaca had three receptions for 59 yards.
Vincent Memorial will play Castle Park High School at 6:30 p.m. Friday in Chula Vista.