COALINGA – For the second consecutive week, the West Hills College Coalinga football team pulled off some late-game magic. But unlike last Saturday, the Falcons came out on the losing end and fell in overtime by a final score of 41-35 to visiting College of the Redwoods at Memorial Stadium.
Quarterback Nick Siegel, in for injured starting QB Jaice Holt, sent the game into overtime after he tossed a 10-yard touchdown pass to Dagostino Saintal, and then ran in for a two-point PAT with 2:56 left in regulation to tie up the game at 35-35.
But in the extra period, Siegel's drive stalled at the Redwoods 12-yard line. Rudy Valdez came out to attempt a go-ahead 28-yard field goal but it was blocked.
On the Corsairs second play of their overtime drive, quarterback Teagan Gaither connected with Kaleb Price for a game-winning 29-yard touchdown.
Despite the loss, head coach Justin Berna was proud of his team's effort.
"It was a great game," Berna said. "It was a slugfest and came down to the wire just like last week. We had our opportunities but we just couldn't finish them off. One or two plays really made a difference."
West Hills jumped out to a 14-0 lead after Holt ran in for a two-yard touchdown with 1:32 left in the first while Vondarious Gordon also broke in from two-yards out for a TD with 43 seconds remaining.
The flurry of scoring continued with a long 83-yard touchdown reception by Redwoods' Gaither to Donte Hurt with 12 seconds left. The Falcons nearly matched that as Holt and Saintal connected for an 82-yard touchdown bomb with four seconds on the clock in the first to extend West Hills' lead to 21-7.
But Redwoods scored 28 of the next 35 points to jump out in front. Holt broke the Corsairs' scoring run with a 16-yard TD pass to KJ Ford to cut Redwoods' lead to 27-21 with 7:58 to play in the third quarter.
Gaither's two-yard TD run with 8:52 to go in the fourth extended Redwoods's lead to 35-27 before Siegal led the Falcons on the game-tying five-play, 23-yard drive.
The back-and-forth contest featured over 1000 yards of offense with the Falcons totaling 450 yards. Holt accounted for three touchdowns, tossing two and running in for one while passing for 355 yards.
Gordon led WHCC on the ground with 55 yards on 14 attempts while Saintal had another huge game with 10 catches for 190 yards and two TDs. Ford added six receptions for 92 yards and a touchdown.
On defense, Juan Donoso led the Falcons with 11 tackles. He was all over the field, adding a sack, one tackle for loss, a fumble recovery, and also blocked a kick. Darrise Bridgett totaled eight tackles, including two tackles for loss and a sack.
West Hills, now 1-2 overall, has a bye next week and returns to action on October 1 when they travel to Quincy to take on Feather River College at 1 p.m.