Estancia wins a wild one

Joseph Boo

NEWPORT BEACH - Estancia’s football team found itself down late,

32-28, against Montclair Prep with the ball on its own 21-yard line and

an offense that threw as many interceptions as completions at that point.

Hope seemed slim at that point.

But Estancia Coach Dave Perkins was not nervous. In fact, he was

downright confident.

“I knew we were going to win,” he said. “I didn’t know how, but we kept

moving the ball all night long, so I thought we were going to score. I

also knew we had to throw sooner or later.”

Estancia made up for its three interceptions with one pass. With a little

under a minute left, Eagles quarterback Jeremy Valdes connected with John

Aldrete in the middle of the field.

Aldrete got to the sidelines and raced to the end zone for a 44-yard

score that capped off a wild, 34-32, nonleague victory for the Eagles.

Three touchdowns were scored in the final minutes of a game that featured

plenty of offense. That was crucial for the Eagles, who had failed to

score in last six quarters entering the game.

The streak was extended to seven and the Eagles were down, 7-0. Marshall

Hendricks finally ended the drought with a 6-yard run in the second

quarter. After an offsides penalty by the Mounties, Estancia decided to

go for two and converted.

Estancia took the largest lead of the game in the third quarter when

Hendricks found a huge hole on the right side of the line and raced 82

yards for a touchdown to put Estancia up, 22-14. Hendricks ended up with

199 rushing yards on 21 carries.

But Montclair Prep responded with a pair of touchdowns.

Mountie fullback Jerome Dennis entered in the fourth quarter and gained

104 yards on four carries. He scored at the start of the fourth to put

Montclair Prep up by one.

Estancia then ate up over six minutes on its next drive that had the

Eagles facing a fourth-down on their 10-yard line.

Estancia ran a fake sweep to Hendricks, and he threw the ball to an open

Matt Mueller. A Montclair Prep defender pulled him down for the pass

interference, and Mueller scored on the next play with exactly two and a

half minutes left.

Montclair responed in 16 seconds. On Montclair Preps’ first play, Dennis

ran 58 yards for the touchdown, and a stunned Estancia team was suddenly

down 32-28.

Estancia got the ball on its 21 and slowly chipped way with runs and

short passes.

Valdes then connected with Aldrete for the winning score, and Estancia

went from stunned silence to wild jubilation. And when Freddy Rodriguez

picked off Montclair Prep’s desperation pass, that jubilation spilled

onto the field.