South City Prevails in First Game of the Season

Glaring up at the scoreboard, Brad Los understood the situation very well. With the seconds ticking away, the varsity quarterback knew that one final touchdown was all he needed to hoist his team to victory — and Los prevailed.

On The Warriors final offensive drive and with only seconds remaining in the game, South City scored from one yard outside the goal line to beat the Santa Clara 13-12 on Sept. 3 in Santa Clara.

The come-from-behind victory materialized when with the clock winding down. Los kept the ball off the snap and bulldozed his way into the end zone. 

"It was probably the most awesome moment of my life," Los said. "I just laid on my back and screamed… words can barely describe it."

Though the 6-foot-3-inch junior lifted his team past the rugged Bruins, scoring in the final seconds of play, it was his offensive line to which he gives credit.

"I give them 100 percent of the credit; they deserve every bit of it. They work very hard in practice — Darren Tufono actually gave me a push [on the last play], that's the reason I got in."

Though the squad left the field gleaming, the victory was anything but easy. On a few occasions, the Bruin's special teams unit duped the Warriors. On the very first play, Santa Clara recovered an on-side kick, placing the Bruins in Warrior territory.

"We had no scouting reports on their special teams," varsity Head Coach Frank Moro said. "Considering that, our special teams played pretty well."

With the early recovery, the Bruins forced their way down to the Warrior 6-yard line looking to take an early lead. South City's defense, however, knocked the ball loose and recovered the fumble on their own 4-yard line for the first turnover of the game.

That same defense would later come up big in the second quarter when junior Tavita Faaiu sacked Bruin quarterback Jared Brobst, leading to a Santa Clara punt.

Though scoreless after the first quarter, the Warriors would draw first blood in the second with a continuous ground attack that pounded the Bruin defense into submission. The drive culminated with senior running back Falah Salem scoring from 20-yards outside the end zone. With the converted extra point, South City led 7-0 midway through the second quarter. The lead however, wouldn't last long. 

On the very next drive, the Bruins used their own ground attack to advance and eventually score. Santa Clara running back Hector Bejerano exploded on the fifth play of the drive with a 75-yard touchdown run down the sideline. A failed two-point conversion attempt however still gave the Warriors a 7-6 edge going into the half. 

Santa Clara's special teams unit continued to give South City fits in the third quarter when on fourth-and-four, Bejerano ran up the middle for a first down. In the final quarter, the Bruins continued to pound the ball down the field behind running backs Adam Garza and Raymond Remo. Santa Clara threatened to score again when on the Warrior eight-yard line — the Bruins going for it on fourth-and-one. In a clutch defensive play, junior Rika Levi stopped the Bruins turning the ball over on downs.

"I keep seeing that play," Levi said. "I can't get that fourth-and-one out of my head."

With about five minutes left in regulation, the Warriors squandered defensive chances to put the game away. South City allowed a first down on a Bruin's fourth-and 15 when Brobst connected with Remo for a 17-yard pass. The Warrior secondary would continue to struggle when again on fourth-and-long, Brobst found Bejerano for a 17-yard gain. The Bruins continued with their mighty air attack when with 1:34 left in the game, Brobst floated a beauty of a pass to Remo, finding the end zone.  Though the Bruins again failed on the 2-point conversion, the lead now belonged to them at 12-7.

With one last chance to win the game, the Warriors from their own 44-yard line used their own air attack to hurry down the field. On second-and 10 from his opponents' 20-yard line, Los barley avoided disaster as his pass to Greg Bildhauer was nearly picked off by Justin Salinas.

A play later and Los faced fourth-and-j10 with only 34 seconds to play. South City switched back to its trusted ground game with Robert Johnson getting the ball in the backfield and taking it all the way to the one-yard line for a first down. Though Santa Clara stopped South City's first touchdown attempt, they couldn't repel the second. 

"We had two chances in 26 seconds," Moro said. "I thought we got it the first time. But I just knew we were going to get it. I knew we had that game — we needed one yard in 26 seconds. "

"We gotta do what we gotta do for our team," Levi said, who for several seconds laid injured on the field toward the end of the final quarter. "That 'W' takes all the pain away."