Ukiah holds off Santa Rosa in football thriller

In a high school football game full of missed opportunities, Ukiah finally capitalized late in the game and pulled out a 29-22 victory over host Santa Rosa late Friday night, stopping a Panthers scoring threat with six seconds left.

“That was a four-quarter football game,” Ukiah coach Jonathon Dewey told his players after the nonleague win.

In the lowest-scoring game for either team thus far this year, both defenses pulled out some strong stops, shutting down potential scoring drives all game long.

After a fitful first half, Ukiah led 10-8 until midway through the third quarter when it appeared the Wildcats seized momentum.

Santa Rosa was putting together a strong drive, linking runs of 8, 7 and 9 yards to advance to within striking distance, when Panthers running back Jayvee Long fumbled at the Ukiah 17-yard line.

The Wildcats recovered on their 12, then drove 88 yards, capped by a Lucas Stanley 1-yard touchdown run with 1:12 left in the quarter to put Ukiah up, 17-8, with Hiran Velquez’ point after.

But Santa Rosa came right back, driving nine plays and 65 yards to pull to within one.

At fourth-and-10 on the 20-yard line, Panthers quarterback Trevor Anderson connected with Chandler Andrew in the right corner of the end zone for the score. Long’s two-point conversion run put the Panthers’ just one down, 17-16, with 9 minutes left.

Though Santa Rosa has been almost an exclusive run team in its two previous games this year, Santa Rosa coach Russell Ponce threw his confidence behind Anderson when it counted.

The Panthers’ punishing run game has dominated its offense this year, accounting for 90 percent of their total offensive yards in the first two games (708 of 778 yards).

Long had averaged over 8 yards per carry, while Emilio Campos has added 6 per touch.

Last week, Ukiah stayed with Eureka until the second half and then faded. Friday, Dewey wasn’t going to let his team repeat that.

Up by one, the Wildcats strung together a strong drive that included 14-yard rushes by Stanley and Jay Jay Escamilla, capped by a 53-yard catch-and-run from quarterback Nate Johnson to Escamilla to take the lead, 23-16, with 6:12 left.

A blocked point-after attempt gave Santa Rosa some hope, though, down by just 7.

Santa Rosa’s Anderson connected to Emilio Campos on a 19-yard pass and two strong runs by Long positioned the Panthers at the 18 to set up a touchdown that would bring Santa Rosa within one.

Long took a direct snap, spun and rammed his way up the middle for the touchdown, bringing his Panthers to trail by one, 23-22 with 1:17 left.

But Ukiah defenders Escamilla and Nathan Tyrell stopped Long on a two-point conversion attempt to repel the threat.

The Wildcats recovered Santa Rosa’s onside kick and scored on the first play from scrimmage, Stanley scoring on a 58-yard run, to put Ukiah ahead 29-22.

Santa Rosa threatened again, but came up short, with a fourth-and-4 sack with six seconds left on the Ukiah 26.

“We had some opportunities,” Ponce said. “We had some penalties at the wrong time, some turnovers.”

“It was crazy,” Dewey said of the final few minutes. “Some things didn’t go our way earlier, but our kids just kept grinding.”

Ukiah has now beaten Santa Rosa in each of the past three years. Both teams are now 2-1.

You can reach Staff Writer Lori A. Carter at 707-521-5470 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com. On Twitter @loriacarter.