Empire football: Montgomery works overtime to get past Maria Carrillo

Montgomery’s Khameron Perkins scored on a 10-yard run in double overtime to lead his Vikings over Maria Carrillo, 37-30, in a wild North Bay League nonleague high school football game Friday night.

“What an amazing game,” said Vikings coach Vertis Patton afterward. “(Maria Carrillo) was in control. It looked like it was over.”

Tied at 27 after regulation, each team got four downs to score from the 10-yard line.

The teams each scored on field goals to tie it up again, 30-30.

In the second OT starting at the 10 again, Patton told his substitute quarterback Perkins – primarily a running back – to look for a rushing opportunity. It came.

“I called a spread play with an option for Kham...,” Patton said. “I told him if it wasn’t there, take off and run. We still had two plays left if we needed. He dropped back and he scored straight up the middle.”

Perkins was subbing for starting quarterback Cole Hallin, who went out with a possible concussion.

Perkins threw 68-yard and 53-yard touchdowns to Kaih Johnson in the fourth quarter as Montgomery came back from a 27-13 deficit to tie it in the final 12 minutes.

B.J. Johnson, no relation, had scoring catches of 62 and 24 in the first half.

Patton had such faith in his defense that he had his team elect to go on defense after the first OT coin flip.

“We felt our defense had played good all year, so if we stopped them, we’d have a chance to score,” Paton said. “They ended up getting 3 points, but we got our 3 and went for double OT.”

Carrillo looked to be running away with the game early, scoring three unanswered touchdowns in the first eight minutes to build a 21-0 lead. But Montgomery cut it to a one-possession game just before halftime.

The Pumas made the most of their first possession with long runs from Justin Kilgore (26 yards) and Jack Sherman (25) that put Tyler Van Arden in position to scamper in with a 2-yard score.

Montgomery was forced to punt after an unproductive possession that left them with a fourth down at their own 22-yard line. Carrillo’s Sherman blocked Viking Reese Martin’s kick, gathered up the loose ball and ran it in for Carrillo’s second score within a minute.

On its next possession, on third down and 14 yards to go, Carrillo quarterback K.C. Kelly scrambled in traffic and found Van Arden, who got loose for a 34-yard gain, putting the Pumas in striking distance again.

Sherman took the handoff to the right, then cut back up the middle to score on 35-yard run.

Kicker Ryan Dieter converted all three point-afters to put the Pumas up, 21-0, with four minutes remaining in the first quarter.

The Vikings got on the board in the waning seconds of the first quarter when Hallin aired it out to wide receiver B.J. Johnson, who leaped over a defender and sped down the sideline for a 62-yard touchdown.

They were able to cut the Pumas’ lead to 21-13 just before halftime with another Hallin-Johnson link, as the 6-foot-2 Johnson again cleared the defender for a 24-yard touchdown.

Carrillo’s Sherman scored 3 touchdowns - including a blocked punt return and a fumble recovery in the first half - to lead the Pumas.

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