Villa Park’s Jackson Back Pedals, Beats Foothill
ORANGE — There aren’t too many backs willing to take a 37-yard rushing loss. It kills their seasonal average.
But that’s what Villa Park quarterback Matt Jackson did and the play preserved a wild 24-23 Century League victory over Foothill Saturday night at El Modena.
With a wary eye on the clock and the seven seconds remaining to be played, Jackson took the snap from center on fourth down and eight from his 37-yard line as Villa Park was desperately trying to hold onto a three-point lead. But Jackson, also the team’s punter, didn’t kick or throw, instead he retreated backward toward the end zone with a host of Knights on his tail.
He put on a couple of moves to waste time, avoided the rush and with no time left he crossed the goal line for a Foothill safety.
“You do what you have to do to win,” said Jackson, who passed for 159 yards and one touchdown. “We didn’t want to give them the ball back and one final chance, so we figured we’d let them have two points and we’d win the game.”
Indeed, getting the safety was of little consequence to Foothill (3-5, 2-1), which fell short after dominating the second half. The Knights rallied from a 21-7 halftime deficit to tie the score on touchdown runs of six and nine yards by Skyler Champion, who finished with 201 yards rushing in 21 carries.
Foothill looked as if it had worn the Villa Park defense down and appeared ready to drive for what could have been the winning score. But Knight running back Carlos Ruelas fumbled and Villa Park (5-2-1, 3-0) got the ball back in good field position at the Foothill 30-yard line with about 4 1/2 minutes left. Nine plays later, facing fourth and goal at the two, Villa Park got a 20-yard field goal from junior Mike Clements to regain the lead, 24-21. Foothill couldn’t convert on fourth and six at the Villa Park 46 with a minute to go and Villa Park took over and tried to kill the clock.
Foothill used two timeouts and thought it would have a last chance with the ball. But Villa Park Coach Pat Mahoney used a timeout of his own and conferred with Jackson about what he should do.
Mahoney said he learned a lesson in a similar spot in his team’s 10-10 tie in its season opener with Valencia. “We had little time left on the clock and we tried to kill time with some running plays and we messed up and fumbled,” Mahoney said.
Foothill got on the scoreboard first, driving 70 yards in eight plays. But Villa Park scored on the its next two possessions, the second capped by a 20-yard scoring pass from Jackson to Robby McConchie. Dache Dameron made it 21-7 on an eight-yard run, his second touchdown of the game, with 3:47 left in the half.
