Punching their ticket
Summerville Bears cruise past Bradshaw Christian 40-14 to clinch championship berth, will face No. 2 Hughson
“You are not done,” Summerville head coach Sean Leveroos told his team after their 40- 14 section semifinal victory over Bradshaw Christian, “but you are one of one.”
With their win Friday night, the Bears punched their ticket to the CIF Sac-joaquin Section Division VI championship game against the No. 2-seeded Hughson Huskies, which will be held at St. Mary’s High School in Stockton at 1 p.m. Saturday.
It will be Summerville’s second section championship appearance in school history, as the Bears fell to Colfax in the Division IV championship game of a four-team playoff in 2001. No Bears team has ever won the title.
For senior lineman Nathaniel Tucker, who has been in and around the Bears football program for about as long as he can remember, Friday’s win meant everything. The chance to compete for a blue section championship banner means even more.
“It’s been a long time coming,” Tucker said. “I have been dreaming about this since I was a little kid. When my brother was on the team, I was the waterboy. It’s been a ride. I am just happy to be a part of it.”
Summerville started the game off in style, with a Bears player punching the ball out from the hands of the Bradshaw Christian kickoff returner in the very first seconds of the game, giving Summerville a key takeaway and setting the tone for the rest of the game.
The Bears followed the turnover up with a masterful first drive executed by quarterback Braylon Leveroos and the Summerville offense.
Braylon Leveroos took a shot to pass-catching back Austin Hike, which he nabbed along the sideline and dragged his toe to remain inbounds for a big gain on the Bears’ first play.
The early takeaway, followed by another Summerville fumble recovery in the first half — both of which led to scores — was huge for the Bears, forcing Bradshaw Christian to press hard to make up the deficit.
“(It was) vital. We discussed the importance of tak
ing advantage of opportunities if we got them,” Sean Leveroos said. “Being able to get up is mission critical, especially against that style of offense where you could lose a possession or two.”
Summerville’s defense was solid, holding Bradshaw Christian to only 14 points — their lowest output since a 42-14 loss to Liberty Ranch in mid-October.
A big part of that was the stellar play of Bryce Leveroos in the Bears’ secondary, making a number of winning plays as a corner when the Bradshaw Christian offense began to lean more heavily on its passing attack.
Bryce Leveroos is the younger brother of Braylon — one of four pairs of brothers on this Summerville team, including linemen Reece and Jordan Wynne, Tristan and Phoenix Barajas, starting running back Kai Elkins and defensive coordinator Kole Elkins.
Bryce Leveroos also made a number of one-on-one, openfield tackles on Bradshaw Christian running backs — an impressive feat for a freshman.
“Bryce is an animal, it’s ridiculous,” Tucker said of the team’s youngest Leveroos. “It makes you stop and think like, ‘I can’t believe that kid is a freshman.’ ”
Braylon Leveroos said his younger brother has surpassed expectations in his first year of high school football.
“It was an ongoing joke last year like, ‘Hey, we are bringing him up no matter what. This is the only chance we will have (to play together) so we are taking him,’ ” Braylon Leveroos said.
“Everyone is happy we did. He has balled out, he has grown a lot — I am proud of him. He is awesome.”
On offense, Summerville was firing on all cylinders. Everyone got involved, with Braylon Leveroos completing passes to Hike, Dean Trimeloni and Tristan Barajas. Big tight-end Ry Atkins got in on the action, too, making an impressive, leaping end-zone catch, but he was ruled just out of bounds.
Braylon Leveroos was aided by Kai Elkins, who found seams in the Pride defensive
line for big gains, including a 56-yard touchdown run at the end of the third quarter.
The Bears’ senior quarterback aired it out when the Pride gave up one-on-one looks for Summerville receivers, and used his pinball-esque running chops to bounce off tackles on his quarterback keepers.
Braylon Leveroos had three rushing touchdowns and one passing touchdown to Trimeloni near the end of regulation to cap it off and give the Bears their 40-14 win.
Summerville found considerable success in a play-action passing play, which leveraged the duty of Bradshaw Christian’s secondary against itself, forcing the Pride to choose between collapsing on Braylon Leveroos as he rolled out or
staying with the Summerville receivers.
When the Pride made a decision, Braylon Leveroos made them pay.
“It’s a difficult play because it’s a hard play-action play,” Sean Leveroos said. “You are taking advantage of a player that has a dual responsibility and we run the ball enough that that player has to at least respond to the run and then, in the process, it gives us a spot to be able to throw the ball.”
As a senior, Braylon Leveroos said the split-second reads to either make a throw or keep the ball to run have become second nature.
“It depends on distance, down, yardage, score, time on the clock … my dad has done a really good job of making the
offense easy,” he said. “I have a set, rhythm read throw on each play and I know the timing -now, by doing it in my fourth year, of when it needs to come out.”
As the leader of a team which is the focus of massive expectations, Braylon Leveroos said he feels the pressure but knows it’s not all on him.
“I feel like there is a lot of weight on my shoulders, but at the same time it is on the team,” he said. “We know the community is behind us, and it’s nice to know that everybody, no matter what, will love you at the end of the day.”