Estancia rallies for tight win over Calvary Chapel

Four minutes into the second quarter Friday night, Estancia had amassed just a single yard of offense, turned the ball over twice, and was trailing by two touchdowns, with little sign things were going to get better.

They did, in a hurry, and after playing catch-up almost until the end, everything fell into place for the Eagles.

Riley Witte rolled to his right for a 4-yard touchdown run and then found Evan Urquiza in the end zone for the two-point conversion with barely more than three minutes to play, and the defense halted visiting Santa Ana Calvary Chapel’s would-be winning drive in the final minute to cement a stirring 29-28 triumph in a showdown for fourth place in the Orange Coast League at Jim Scott Stadium.

Witte completed 13 of 17 passes for 261 yards and two touchdowns, spreading the ball among eight receivers, and ran for two more scores as Estancia (5-4, 2-3 in the Orange Coast League) added to its case for a CIF Southern Section postseason at-large berth should it win, as expected, in next week’s Battle for the Bell clash with archrival Costa Mesa.

“We came into this game knowing we had to beat them, and we did everything we could,” said Witte, the senior quarterback. “Going into Mesa, it’s a rivalry game, so it’s probably going to be a little hard, but hopefully it goes our way and we get into the playoffs. It would be amazing.”

Things did not go Witte’s, nor Estancia’s, way at the start. He was sacked for a three-and-out on the game’s first drive, was intercepted on his first pass of the night, then fumbled the ball away under heavy pressure the next time he dropped back to pass. That enabled Calvary Chapel (4-5, 2-3), which will go into its league finale next week at St. Margaret’s as a decided underdog, to grab a 14-0 lead behind quarterback Matthew Peters, who connected with an open Anthony Gonzalez on a 24-yard swing pass to finish off a 75-yard drive and then found Jackson Pellkofer in the end zone for a 13-yard score early in the second quarter.

It was a different game from that point, as Witte flourished following adjustments that spread the field, opened space for Isaiah Brown and the running game, then exploited holes in Calvary Chapel’s pass defense. Witte hit Trey Sanchez on a 42-yard bomb to set up a 5-yard touchdown pass to Joseth Zarate-Groth that halved the deficit.

The Eagles then marched from their 2, after a Peters fumble, into the red zone and scored again, another pass to Zarate-Groth, on the final play of the second half. A holding flag nullified that, and they went into halftime down by 7.

“That was momentum for us,” Estancia coach Mike Bargas said. “Obviously, we wanted the points, but it was like, ‘Hey, you guys, we can line up with these guys and get them going backward.’”

Witte agreed.

“We went into the locker room with this ‘we-got-it’ mentality,” he said.

The Eagles scored on all three of their second-half possessions, pulling even twice before going ahead near the end. They struck right after the break, on Witte’s 1-yard push after Peters’ poor handoff on the first play of the second half hit the ground and was recovered by Roy Brown at the Calvary Chapel 17.

The visitors went ahead on a 15-play drive capped by a 1-yard Peters run.

It was even again when Witte connected with Brandon Bettinghausen on a 34-yard touchdown three plays into the fourth quarter, but Calvary Chapel was ahead four and a half minutes later on another Peters run.

Estancia didn’t face a third down on its eight-play, 78-yard game-winning drive. Witte hit Bettinghausen for 16 yards and Sanchez for 8 yards. Isaiah Brown followed with 10- and 4-yard runs, and Bettinghausen went for 7 yards on a reverse. Then Zarate-Groth won a duel at the Calvary Chapel 4 to catch a 29-yard pass, and Witte sprinted to the end zone two plays later.

Urquiza was at the back of the end zone for the conversion, a play the Eagles practice daily.

Witte’s tough start made what followed all the sweeter.

“I had to do something,” Witte said. “All my teammates were up there hyping me, like, ‘You’ve got this, we’ve got your back,’ so I knew I had them behind me.”

Peters, who completed 12 of his first 13 passes and totaled 263 yards — 129 on 26 carries and 134 through the air — then drove Calvary Chapel from its 33 to Estancia’s 30, the last stretch on a pass-interference penalty, with a minute to go. The Eagles’ secondary took care of things from there, with Bettinghausen denying a completion and Bennett Molica making two big plays, the first in the end zone and the second to limit a completion to 4 yards. Peters threw incomplete on fourth down, and it was done.

ORANGE COAST LEAGUE

Estancia 29, Calvary Chapel 28

SCORE BY QUARTERS

Calvary Chapel 6 - 8 - 7 - 7 — 28

Estancia 0 - 7 - 7 - 15 — 29

FIRST QUARTER

CC — Gonzalez 24 pass from Peters (kick failed), 4:17.

SECOND QUARTER

CC — Pellkofer 13 pass from Peters (Peters run), 8:53.

E — Zarate-Groth 5 pass from Witte (Castor-Cortinas kick), 4:22.

THIRD QUARTER

E — Witte 1 run (Castor-Cortinas kick), 9:25.

CC — Peters 1 run (Arriola kick), 1:35.

FOURTH QUARTER

E — Bettinghausen 34 pass from Witte (Castor-Cortinas kick), 10:53.

CC — Peters 5 run (Arriola kick), 6:15.

E — Witte 4 run (Urquiza pass from Witte), 3:04.

INDIVIDUAL RUSHING

CC — Peters, 26-129, 2 TDs.

E — I. Brown, 19-71.

INDIVIDUAL PASSING

CC — Peters, 13-17-0, 134, 2 TDs.

E — Witte, 13-17-1, 261, 2 TDs.

INDIVIDUAL RECEIVING

CC — Gonzalez, 5-60, 1 TD.

E — Zarate-Groth, 3-62, 1 TD; Bettinghausen, 3-62, 1 TD.