Belmont’s Villa Finishes Off Eagle Rock, 21-14

After struggling along with the rest of his teammates for the better part of three quarters, running back Saul Villa of Belmont High finally hit his stride.

He rushed for 73 of his game-high 105 yards in the fourth quarter and led the Sentinels to a 21-14 Northern Conference victory over Eagle Rock Friday afternoon at Eagle Rock.

Villa scored the winning touchdown on a one-yard dive with 1:15 remaining. He finished with 105 yards in 21 carries and also caught two passes for 38 yards.

“It wasn’t a very pretty first half and the third quarter wasn’t much better,” said Belmont Coach Robert Levy, whose team improved to 3-2 overall and 2-0 in conference. “But we finally had some nice blocking in the fourth quarter and that got us going.”

Eagle Rock appeared in control until quarterback Oscar Perez led the Sentinels on a nine-play, 58-yard scoring drive midway through the final quarter.

Perez, who completed only six of 25 passes for 122 yards, tied the score on a seven-yard run with 3:18 remaining.

After Eagle Rock’s Robert Anderson fumbled the ensuing kick, Belmont drove 40 yards in five plays to set up Villa’s winning touchdown run.

Belmont, winner of three games in a row, plays perennial Northern Conference power Franklin next Friday.

“We’ve got a lot of momentum going,” Villa said. “We just hope we can take it into next week and all the way to the championship.”