Facing a fourth-and-seven on Southern Boone's 49-yard line with the 13-12 lead late in the fourth quarter, the logical play was to punt the ball and let the Pintos' defense get another stop to finish off the Eagles.
Nope.
Pintos' head coach Marty Albertson wanted to deliver the knock out by gaining the first down which would seemingly allow California to run out the clock for the win. The call would have been a lot easier to make if California didn't have a false start penalty on fourth-and-two the play before.
"We could have punted the ball down there, but we were at the 50-yard line and I thought if we make that first down the game is over," Albertson said.
On the play, senior Josh Woodruff was sent in motion from the wide receiver position and sophomore Jacob Wolken handed him the ball as if for a receiver sweep play. But, Woodruff fired a strike to senior receiver Ethan Hodges who ran into the end zone after Landon Mouse made a key block.
"The first time we punted on fourth-and-one, (the players) wanted to go for it then. I thought it was a little early," Albertson said. "We had that play in our bag of tricks for a long time and we haven't used it yet all year."
The score gave the Pintos a 20-12 lead with two minutes remaining in the game. The defense had to just make one final stop.
On the following drive for the Eagles, Southern Boone gained nine yards on first down, then quarterback Dane Bossert completed a pass to Colin Vaughan for a 33-yard gain. As Mouse was bringing him down, he stripped the ball and Wolken - who was trailing the play - recovered the fumble to seal the 20-12 victory for the Pintos.
The win was the fourth-straight since California started the season 0-2.
"These kids have matured and these sophomores have some game experience under their belt," Albertson said. "I told them at halftime that I'm going to quit calling them sophomores because they're juniors by now."
In the first quarter, the Eagles found the end zone first to give them a 6-0 lead after a missed extra point attempt. The Pintos' defense stopped Southern Boone on its first drive, but when the Eagles punted the ball to California, a muffed punt gave the Eagles the ball on the Pintos' 20-yard line.
Southern Boone's Laron Wallace scored from the 4-yard line on second-and-goal, but California would answer with a game-tying touchdown later in the first quarter.
Rushes by Wolken and junior running back Gunner Baquet moved the ball into their opponents side of the field, then a defensive pass interference penalty gave California the ball on the 24-yard line. One play later on second-and-six, Wolken found Mouse for the 20-yard touchdown.
Mouse recorded four receptions for 65 yards and two touchdowns.
"You've got to give it to Wolken, he was putting the ball there," Mouse said. "As receivers, we just have to make plays for him and plays for the offense."
After a failed 2-point conversion try, the game was tied at 6 after the first quarter and into halftime.
On its opening drive of the second half, California moved the ball 88 yards on nine plays to take its first lead of the game. Two pass completions and a third down conversion set up the 7-yard touchdown pass from Wolken to Mouse.
On third-and-four from the California 18-yard line, Wolken pushed forward for the 4-yard gain to barely give his team the first down. On the next play, Wolken connected with Woodruff for a 25-yard pass completion to move the ball near midfield, then Wolken completed a 31-yard pass to Mouse on the right sideline to move the ball into the red zone.
After a rushing attempt for a no gain, Mouse caught the touchdown pass to give the Pintos a 13-6 lead.
"Jacob is a good one," Albertson said. "He's going to make mistakes every once in a while, but in the second half, I thought he played really well."
Wolken completed 9-of-15 passes for 135 yards, two touchdowns and had an interception. Wolken is just 5 yards shy of the 1,000-yard mark on the season. Wolken also made five tackles on defense and had the game-winning fumble recovery.
"He's a good athlete," Albertson said. "You don't like playing your quarterback as outside linebacker, but he's tough kid."
Early in the fourth quarter, Southern Boone put together an 11-play drive to score a touchdown that should have tied the game. After the Eagles fumbled and recovered the snap on a third-and-goal play, backup quarterback Spencer Taggart found Vaughan in the back of the end zone to cut the deficit to 13-12.
Instead of going for the game-tying extra-point field, the Eagles gambled and went for the lead. Mouse met the Southern Boone running back at the goal line to prevent the 2-point score.
"We've come along way working hard each week," Mouse said. "We've just gotten better each week and it showed tonight fighting through adversity. We battled the whole game and came out with the victory."
California drove down the field for the touchdown on its next drive.
The Pintos (4-2, 4-0 Tri-County) will face off against undefeated rival Blair Oaks Friday at 7 p.m. in Wardsville.
"Oh yeah, we'll be ready," Mouse said.