BOONVILLE - It came down to the final play of the game, as Boonville attempted to tie the game on a last second Hail Mary heave, but the California Pintos (4-1, 2-1 in Tri-County Conference) held on to win their second game in a row Sept. 25 as they defeated the Boonville Pirates (2-3) 21-14.
Boonville tossed their desperation throw from the Pintos 30-yard line on fourth down with just five seconds left in the game. As the ball flew through the air, there were three Pintos' defenders near the end zone ready to knock the ball down and seal the Pintos' fourth victory this season.
Pintos' head coach Derek Scroggins said he was proud of the team's ability to follow through and close out a win in what was a closer game than the others California has won this season so far.
"This is the first time they showed they know how to win," Scroggins said. "I mean, our previous three victories were blow out wins, so at the end of the game, they were able to start thinking about how good it felt to win. Here, we had to play football for four quarters, and this is the first time this season it happened. I am proud of how they were able to close out there."
Boonville struck first, as the Pirates took a 7-0 lead with 9:10 left in the first quarter. The Pintos' defense quickly took control as later in the quarter, it forced its first turnover of the game with an interception by Lucas Ash that was returned to the Pirates' seven-yard line. Calen Kruger then scored on a four-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 7-7 with 4:37 left in the first quarter.
The Pintos then forced a punt on the Pirates' next possession after a sack by Caleb McCumber made it third down and 25 to go. The Pintos got the ball around their 43-yard line, and a few plays later, Kruger scored on a 36-yard touchdown run to make it 14-7 with 1:45 left in the first quarter.
The defense performed well for the Pintos again as in the first drive for the Pirates in the second quarter The Pintos got another sack to make it second and 18. Two plays later on fourth down and 10 near the Pintos 40-yard line, the defense hit Boonville's quarterback as he threw on the run and the ball landed in the hands of Bryant Davis for the Pintos' second interception of the game.
California scored one more time right before halftime, with 27 seconds left in the first half. Kruger lobbed the ball to Trevor Myers, who made a leaping catch on the right side of the end zone to make it a 21-7 game. Boonville got the ball to the Pintos 40-yard line and the last play of the first half was a heave to the end zone that was intercepted by the Pintos to make it three turnovers in the first half.
Neither team scored in the third quarter, but California did get its fourth interception of the game, this one by Kaden Bax. California then took the ball down to Boonville's 20-yard line but lost the ball on a fumble. It was the second fumble lost by the Pintos in the game. Scroggins said the team has to do a better job of not turning the ball over.
In the fourth quarter, things got a lot more tense. Boonville drove deep into Pintos territory, but the Pintos had a little bit of luck on their side as a possible touchdown pass was dropped by the Pirates on third down inside the Pintos' 25-yard line. The defense then stuffed Boonville on fourth down and one yard to go to get the ball back with 8:14 left in the game.
The Pintos' offense ate up a ton of clock as they methodically drove the ball from inside their 25-yard line to their 49-yard line. The Pintos were forced to punt but with less than two minutes left in the game.
Then, things took a turn for the worse for California.
On the punt attempt, the snap went past the punter and the ball was recovered at California's 32-yard line. Boonville took the opportunity to get back into the game as the Pirates drove into the red zone. The Pirates scored on a 12-yard touchdown run to make it 21-14 with 1:36 left in the game, but with no time outs left, Boonville needed to recover the onside kick. That was exactly what the Pirates did.
Scroggins said it was basically the worst-case scenario for California.
"Boonville never gave up. Their kids fought darn hard," Scroggins said.
Scroggins said it was his decision to try to punt the ball near the 50-yard line.
"This is the first time in my 16 years of coaching that I have ever called a punt from inside my own 50," Scroggins said. "I chose to try to pin them deep; my punters believed they could pin them, and I believed that they were going to be able to do that. I did not believe that (Boonville's) offense could march down the field and score with no timeouts twice. We decided to go for that - we had a delay of game that did not really hurt us because both our punters are pretty good and it put us in better punting position, and we just had a miscue that we can't afford to have."
The Pirates quickly got the ball to the Pintos 24-yard line with around 30 seconds left and a fresh set of downs, but a fumbled hand off attempt on second down cost the Pirates. Even though they were able to recover, they had to spike the ball on third down to stop the clock. Then, they were pushed back five yards by a delay of game penalty before their desperate shot at tying the game was knocked down by the Pintos to seal a dramatic win.
The Pintos' next game is at 7 p.m Oct. 2 at Versailles (0-2). Versailles had its game against Blair Oaks canceled last week.