by Terry Bernal San Mateo Daily Journal
It was last year when the Hillsdale Knights started sporting the ‘Fighting Knights’ across their football jerseys. Friday night, they earned that title.
Despite falling behind by two touchdowns at the start of the fourth quarter at raucous Half Moon Bay, the Fighting Knights stormed back to win the battle for first place in the Peninsula Athletic League Ocean Division with a 37-34 victory over the Cougars.
Amid a 34-34 tie, Hillsdale place kicker Josh Janakes drilled a 35-yard field goal with one second remaining in regulation to win it. With the victory, the Fighting Knights (4-0 in PAL Ocean, 7-1 overall) remain unbeaten in league play and take over sole possession of the PAL Ocean Division.
“That’s who we are,” Hillsdale head coach Mike Parodi said of the team’s moniker. “That’s who we need to be.”
The game seemed destined to go down to the wire after Hillsdale took a slight 13-12 lead into halftime. But Hillsdale quarterback Brett Wetteland was grace under fire down the stretch. The senior was 18-of-28 passing for 315 yards and three touchdown strikes, all to junior wide receiver Isaiah Cozzolino.
Half Moon Bay quarterback Gavin Tomberlin put on a passing clinic of his own. The left-handed sophomore threw for 207 yards and five TDs, all to senior wide receiver Pablo Gutierrez. In fact, Tomberlin had four straight completions spanning from the second quarter to the fourth, all for touchdown strikes to Gutierrez of 18, 10, 50 and 26 yards.
Tomberlin’s 26-yard strike on a timing pattern up the sideline gave Half Moon Bay a 34-20 lead with 10:26 remaining in the game. But the savvy Wetteland answered the call, leading three straight scoring drives, going 8 for 10 in the fourth quarter.
“We were down two (touchdowns),” Cozzolino said. “You think he’d break, but no way. He brought us back— him and [senior guard Michael Mounga].”
Mounga was a blocking force to opened rushing lanes for senior tailback Cameron Taylor and sophomore Nick Hulman, who were essential to balancing the attack. Taylor had a typical night by his standards, rushing 18 times for 129 yards and two touchdowns. But he also had a 23-yard reception to open Hillsdale’s initial fourth quarter drive before Hulman reeled off runs of 9, 2 and 5 yards.
Then Wetteland connected with Cozzolino on a fly pattern over the middle for a 26-yard touchdown; and Janakes hammered the extra point home to make it 34-27.
Half Moon Bay (3-1, 7-1) didn’t go quietly on the following possession, driving to the Hillsdale 23-yard line and looking to put the game away. But on second-and-9, senior linebacker Siua Etu got into the backfield to stuff a sweep play for a 5-yard loss. Then back-to-back incompletions turned the ball over on downs, giving the Knights possession at the own 28-yard line with 3:27 remaining.
Taylor sparked the game-tying drive with a 6-yard run, then he caught a 7-yard pass from Wetteland to gain a first down. The Knights’ next first down would be much more dramatic, however. Faced with a fourth-and-2 from the Cougars’ 49, Wetteland shuffled right and used an option pitch to Taylor for a 10-yard gain. Two plays later, Cozzolino sprinted up the right sideline to catch a perfect spiral from Wettleland in stride.
“He got it there and it was my job to bring it back down,” Cozzolino said.
With 1:23 remaining, Hillsdale initially lined up to attempt a two-point conversion. But when a false start penalty marched the Knights back five yards, they turned to Janakes to tie it with an extra point at 34-34.
Hillsdale’s defense then expedited a quick change of possession, allowing the Cougars to run just a minute off the clock on a three-and-out. Taylor had a big defensive play as Half Moon Bay took a shot at Gutierrez downfield on first down, but Taylor caught up with the speedy senior to break up the pass. Etu then dropped Tomberlin for a sack on second down. Two plays later, Half Moon Bay punted and the Knights took over at the Cougars’ 44.
Parodi said, with :21.4 seconds remaining, his strategy from the drive’s opening play was to get into field goal range.
“With no timeouts, it’s how close can we get,” Parodi said. “Time was more important than yards. You’ve just got to make common sense plays and it works out.”
Wettleland opened with a creative 5-yard pass underneath to Nate Shani. Then he hit Cozzolino for a 14-yard gain. With :10 seconds remaining, Wettleland found sophomore Joey Sabel at the 18-yard line. That set up Janakes’ game-winner.
“I’m tore up,” Tomberlin said. “I’m mad. But I’m trying to keep my teams’ heads high and move on to The King’s Academy. Every team losses.”
For the Knights — who trailed 6-0 at the end of the first quarter — it was a matter of generating a steady momentum towards a spectacular finish.
“We didn’t start too well as a team,” Parodi said. “Half Moon Bay — hats off to them — they played a great game. We came out a little excited, a little over-amped, and were trying to get our bearing straight. … They got us a couple times in that third quarter, and then we got it going in the fourth quarter.”
