HUGHSON — About 2,000 spectators crammed into Husky Memorial Stadium on Friday night to witness the highly anticipated Trans-Valley League showdown between undefeated Sonora and undefeated Hughson.
Twenty years from now, 10 times that many will claim they attended, because it was that kind of game.
With just seconds remaining, Huskies middle linebacker Colt Foss blocked Eli Ingalls’ pass intended for Cody Speer, denying Sonora’s bid for a two-point conversion and helping Hughson hold on for a thrilling 52-51 victory.
The Wildcats rushed for 487 yards on 63 attempts, the last being a 7-yard quarterback keeper from Ingalls with just three seconds left on the clock. That pulled the ’Cats within a point … and they opted to go for the win right then and there.
But when Sonora most needed to gain 3 yards — it opted to pass.
“It definitely surprised us,” said Shaun King, whose team has needed late-game heroics the past three weeks. “If you go look at the film, we were actually having our corners blitz.”
That blitz, in an effort to help stop the run, left the Huskies vulnerable to any pass in the flat.
“I’ll own the last play call; that’s my fault,” said first-year Sonora head coach Kirk Clifton, the program’s longtime offensive coordinator under Bryan Craig, who stepped down after last season. “We didn’t practice that enough, and that’s my fault. I still like the play call. We just didn’t practice it enough.”
The Wildcats attempted just three passes in the contest, and because Sonora has so few pass plays in its arsenal, Hughson’s defense got plenty of looks against each option during the week of practice, according to Foss. The pop pass was one for which they’d thoroughly prepared.
“I thought it was going to be the same play as the touchdown — the fake dive where the quarterback pulls it and runs right up the B-gap,” said Foss. “So, I was playing the B-gap heavy, just staring at the quarterback. Then he put some weight on his front leg and I could tell it was going to be a pass.”
As much success as Sonora had on the ground — Tommy Sutton gained 234 yards on 30 carries, Cash Byington amassed 134 yards on 11 totes, and Brody Speer totaled 87 yards on 12 attempts — Hughson had equal success through the air.
Arizona-bound quarterback Robert McDaniel completed 19 of 27 passes for 428 yards, with five touchdowns and no interceptions. For the season, the 6-2, 195-pound senior has completed 99 of 154 passes (.643) for 24 scores against just one pick.
“I’d been saying all week, we didn’t want to make this a test of manhood,” said King, who has never failed to guide the Huskies to the playoffs. “We knew they were great up front, so we were going to throw it tonight. There’s no reason to bang our heads against a brick wall. We knew the secondary was what we were going to attack.”
Hughson took a 10-0 lead three minutes into the game thanks to Noe Pacheco’s 26-yard field goal and a 44-yard TD strike from McDaniel to Lawson Aviles, returning from a three-game suspension after an altercation in the Pitman game on Sept. 6.
“It feels amazing,” said Aviles, who caught five passes for 125 yards. “I love being on the football field. Being off the field, it was a struggle. But I was always there for the team and I love being back on the field with my brothers.”
The Wildcats, newcomers to the TVL after the section moved them out of the Mother Lode League, tied the game with a 23-yard FG from Emanuel Garibay and a 14-yard TD fun from Speer.
Hughson then went three-and-out on its next possession, and the Wildcats silenced the crowd by jumping ahead 17-10 on Byington’s 43-yard sprint up the middle.
Sonora’s lead lasted only 66 seconds, however, as McDaniel connected with Aviles for a 57-yard gain, setting up a 21-yard scoring strike to Malakai Sumter (four receptions, 115 yards) on the following play.
The Wildcats went three-and-out on their next possession and set up to punt for the only time in the game. But Garibay had trouble fielding a low snap and Hughson’s defense buried him at Sonora’s 12. Three plays later, the Huskies reclaimed the lead at 24-17 when McDaniel hit Jamesson Davis from the 13.
“I know Phil (Tibura), our offensive coordinator, always tries to get everybody the ball and he had that one opportunity for me,” said Davis, a senior. “I really wanted to make the most of my moment. I had (the defender) on the inside, went back, and just trusted Robert to make a great throw.”
Sonora tied it 24-24 on Sutton’s 69-yard burst, but Hughson took the lead just before intermission when McDaniel found Air Force Academy-bound Max Mankins from 10-yards out to make it 31-24. Mankins also had a 63-yard reception earlier in the game that helped set up the Pacheco’s field goal.
“Our coaches made a really great point in the beginning of the week and that was, ‘When should a new school come in and win the TVL?’” said McDaniel. “Honestly, that’s the thing that I took away, and I just kind of had that mindset that we had to go crazy.”
Sonora and Hughson traded scores to start the second half. The Wildcats got a 6-yard TD run from Speer, which was followed by a 1-yard dive into the end zone by Foss. Pacheco’s PAT attempt was blocked and the the Huskies’ lead was 37-31.
The Wildcats pulled ahead 38-37 on a 9-yard TD run by Sutton, but Hughson answered when McDaniel found Sumter on a 72-yard bomb. The duo then hooked up for the two-point conversion and the Huskies led 45-38 with 9:30 remaining.
On the ensuing possession, Ingalls broke free for a 33-yard TD run to make it 45-45 with 6:01 to play.
Hughson’s next possession started on its own 31 with 5:52 remaining, and the Huskies were hoping for a 69-yard drive that lasted, well, 5:52. But with their inability to run the ball effectively, it seemed likely they’d have to rely on their home-run capability. After all, five of Hughson’s previous six touchdown drives had taken less than 2:40, and four of those took 70 seconds or less.
But the Huskies managed to chew 4:04 off the clock before Eli Wilbanks scored from 2 yards out to make it 52-45.
Wilbanks’ TD was wet up by a pretty back-shoulder throw from McDaniel to his brother, Bryce, that gained 22 yards to the 2. Bryce McDaniel caught six passes for 82 yards — none bigger than that conversion on second-and-7.
“That’s exactly what (Robert) said,” said the younger McDaniel, a junior. “He called the play and came up to me and said, ‘Be ready.’ We’d been talking about back-shoulder all week, so I kind of knew it was coming. I looked back and it was coming."
With the home crowd in a frenzy, Hughson kicked off and Byington returned the ball 35 yards to the his own 40 with 1:41 left on the clock. Before the first play from scrimmage, Hughson was flagged for too many on the field, pushing the ball to the 45. Sonora handed the ball to Byington on first down and the Huskies just about had him pinned for a 5-yard loss. However, the speedy junior slipped free and turned it into a 1-yard gain. He even managed to get out of bounds and stop the clock 1:31 showing. Eight plays later, the Wildcats cashed in on Ingalls’ run up the middle … but were unable to gain those final 3 yards.
“Tonight meant everything,” said Foss. “It really, really did. Orestimba’s great, Hilmar’s great, and we’re definitely have to grind out these next two weeks on the road, but beating Sonora was definitely the biggest obstacle in our way to winning the TVL. This was the game that was circled on everybody’s schedule.”
Despite Hughson’s postseason success the past two seasons — which includes back-to-back Sac-Joaquin Section Division 6 titles in addition to a state championship in 2022 — the Huskies haven’t produced a conference championship since 1998.
With the victory, the Huskies are now 7-0 overall and 4-0 in league action, but needed to score on the final play of the game to beat Ripon Christian 28-21 on Sept. 27, and needed a late touchdown to beat Escalon 24-21 last week. Still, Hughson is ranked No. 1 by MaxPreps.com among the section’s Division 5 teams (the Huskies will compete in the D-5 playoffs this season).
Sonora, which entered Friday’s game ranked No. 1 among the section’s D-6 teams, drops to 6-1 and 3-1. The Wildcats defeated three-time defending section champion Escalon 35-14 on Sept. 20 and were a point away from taking down the two-time defending champion Huskies.
Hughson travels to Newman Friday to face Orestimba, while Sonora hits the road again to face Ripon.
