There’s no delaying this Norco comeback

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Never count out Norco, especially with a quarterback like Joshua Foley calling the shots.

The Cougars rallied from a 10-point fourth-quarter deficit behind the running of Foley, who scored two of his three rushing touchdowns in the final 8:25 to lead the Cougars to a 27-24 nonleague victory over visiting Rancho Verde.

‘He’s our guy this year,’ Norco Coach Todd Gerhart said of Foley, a returning starter.

Gerhart also showed confidence in his offensive line by going for a first down on fourth and one at the Norco 39 with just over a minute remaining. The Cougars were successful and the rest is history.

‘It looked like a lot of guts, but it really wasn’t,’ Gerhart said of the decision.

Rancho Verde was limited by injuries to its receiving corps, including leading receiver Andrew Bouvay, who left early in the second half with an apparent ankle injury. Rancho Verde quarterback Justin Salazar managed to throw two touchdown passes in the third quarter to give the Mustangs a 10-point lead, but the offense sputtered in the fourth quarter.

Finally, I want to give a shout-out to the back judge, who called seven delay-of-game penalties. Way to speed things up!

-- Dan Arritt