PITTSBURG – On a night when West Hills College Coalinga put up 42 points and totaled 557 yards of offense, sophomore quarterback Jaice Holt threw just one touchdown pass at Los Medanos College on Saturday.
But it was a huge one.
With the Falcons trailing by five points late in the fourth quarter and the clock winding down, Holt connected with Dagostino Saintal for a 10-yard touchdown with just 11 seconds remaining to lead West Hills to a thrilling 42-41 victory to shock the Mustangs.
The TD capped an amazing 13-play, 77-yard drive that started at the Falcons' own 23-yard line with 2:41 to play in the final quarter. Holt completed eight passes during the final surge, with six of those going to Saintal.
Holt threw for 264 yards on the night on 28 of 42 passing while Saintal hauled in 10 receptions for 112 yards.
But it was on the ground where the Falcons controlled the contest, rushing for 293 yards against Los Medanos. Vondarious Gordon had huge game, scoring three touchdowns while running for 188 yards on 26 carries.
Two of Gordon's touchdowns put the Falcons temporarily out in front as the lead changed hands seven times during Saturday's contest. But at the 9:40 mark in the fourth, Los Medanos scored its second touchdown of the quarter to take a 41-29 lead.
On the ensuing kickoff, a nice 37-yard return by KJ Ford and a Los Medanos personal foul gave West Hills good field position to start at the Mustangs' 45-yard line. Holt led an efficient seven-play, 45-yard drive, and ran in from five yards out for his second rushing touchdown of the game to cut the deficit to 41-36 with 6:20 remaining in the game.
Los Medanos was able to drive deep into West Hills territory on the following drive, but the Falcons' defense held up on 3rd-and-4 from the West Hills 23-yard line to force a 40-yard field goal that was missed to set up Holt and the Falcons' final push towards the win.
Maleik Bradford led the Falcons on defense with 10 tackles, Juan Donoso added 7 tackles. Head coach Justin Berna also pointed out the huge sack by Darrise Bridgett as part of a 5-tackle game. Julius German came up with an interception to go with 5 tackles and Rusty Finona recovered a pair of fumbles.
On offense, Brandon Tryon had a good game with 8 receptions for 131 yards.
The win evened up the Falcons record at 1-1 overall. They return to action next Saturday (Sep. 17) when they host College of the Redwoods in a 1 p.m. non-league game at Memorial Stadium.