MERCED – A.J. Jones caught a pair of touchdown passes – one with about six minutes remaining – to lead the South all-stars to a 22-13 come-from-behind victory over the North on Saturday in the third annual Merced County All-Star Football Classic at Golden Valley High School.
Earlier on Saturday, the North held on for a 24-21 victory over the South in the girls' flag football contest.
Jones, who starred at El Capitan High School and will play at Modesto Junior College in the fall, connected with quarterback Vicente Cortez (Merced) on a 60-yard scoring strike for the game’s first score. Jones and Cortez hooked up for a 59-yard score later in the opening stanza, but a penalty nullified the touchdown and brought the ball back to the 14-yard line.
The Jones-Cortez combo came through once again in the fourth quarter to put the game away.
With the South nursing a slim 16-13 lead after Cortez’s 1-yard TD pass to Hayden Czirban with 3:59 left in the third quarter, Cortez lofted a ball deep downfield to Jones, who outjumped two North defenders to high-point the ball and then high-step his way into the end zone from about the 20 to complete a 58-yard connection that made it 22-13.
Jones was named the game’s MVP for his efforts.
“It was honor and a blessing to be chosen to play in this game,” said Jones. “During the high school season, I didn’t think I was going to be an all-star. It was honor to play with guys who have the same type of heart as I do. They all want to fight, they all want to win, and they hate going home losing.”
After Jones’ first score of the night made it 6-0, the South extended its lead to 9-0 on a 24-yard field goal by Merced High’s Haziell Reyes.
The North finally got on the board when Atwater High product Trevor Hill knocked in a 37-yard field goal to make it 9-3 with 6:46 to play in the first half. The North took a 10-9 lead with just over two minutes left in the half when Denair’s Degan Butler hauled in a 15-yard TD pass from Gavin Estrada of Los Banos.
The North stretched the lead to 13-9 with in 9:49 to play in the third quarter when Hill booted a 35-yard field goal – set up by Estrada’s nifty 68-yard scramble – but lost the lead for good on Czirban’s score six minutes later.
In the flag football game, the North all-stars made a key stop late in the fourth quarter to preserve its three-point margin.
The North team stormed out to a 12-0 lead in the first half with Pitman’s Isabel Fuentes catching a touchdown pass with 7:11 to go in the first half.
The South stormed back with two second-quarter touchdowns to take a 14-12 lead into the half. Merced High quarterback Antonia LeJarde connected with Buhach Colony’s Emily Gallegos for a 52-yard touchdown pass to help cut the lead to 12-7 with 58 seconds left in the half. Merced’s Averie Steverson then intercepted a pass that helped set up a 2-yard touchdown run by LeJarde to give the South team the lead at the half.
Patterson quarterback Reagan Allard engineered two touchdown drives in the third quarter for the North team. Allard connected with Ceres’ Ully Staggs for the first score to give the North an 18-14 lead with 6:51 left in the third quarter. Allard then found Turlock’s Makenli Watt for a 31-yard touchdown strike to extend the lead to 24-14 late in the third quarter.
The South cut the lead to 24-21 after LeJarde connected with Steverson for a 28-yard touchdown pass with 10 minutes left in the game. The South drove deep into North territory in the final minutes, but LeJarde couldn’t connect with Steverson in the end zone on fourth-and-goal for the go-ahead score. The Blue North was able to regain possession and kneel out the win.
LeJarde finished with three touchdowns. Steverson had two interceptions to go with her touchdown catch and Gallegos recorded two sacks on defense to go along with her long touchdown catch.
Orestimba’s Imelda Beltran Pelayo was named the North team’s Player of the Game and Steverson was named Player of the Game for the South.
