BUSHLAND – Football has a way of creating unsung heroes and that was on full display Friday night at packed Falcons Stadium.
Canadian saw its standout quarterback, Weston Mitchell exit the game one series into the third quarter. Meanwhile, Bushland quarterback Parker Hall caught fire, pulling the Falcons within one score late in the game, but the Wildcats closed things out with a ground and pound offense behind an unlikely hero to seal a dramatic 27-17 victory in a non-district early season showdown.
Up 21-17 with 3:30 left on the clock, backup quarterback Jet Cervantes and the Wildcats offense went to work. After struggling to get any offense going in the second half and failing to complete a pass, Canadian took over at its own 25 as the capacity crowd knew they had no choice but to run the ball to close the game out.
“Our offensive line was the difference in the game,” Canadian head coach Andy Cavalier said. “When it came down to it, those guys all across the board opened holes in what turned out to be a game winning drive from Jet”.
Cervantes picked up 28 of his 70 rushing yards on that last drive and Chris Flores had a pivotal 14-yard gain as the Wildcats drove to the Falcons 29. On first down, the senior receiver turned signal caller, rolled around left end, found a seam, and raced 29 yards for the game sealing score.
“Jet is just a warrior,” said Cavalier. Time and again he turned two yards into five. He’s a phenomenal teammate so it was thrilling to see him get to end the game that way.”
For Cervantes, the play of the offensive line and receivers was the key to that final drive. “We hated to lose a leader like Weston, but we knew, as a team, that we could drive down and score late in the game”.
In 11 prior meetings, the two squads combined for 67 points, on average, in what’s been a high-flying affair between two run and gun offenses. However, that wasn’t the case in the waning moments of the first half. Canadian was up 7-0 when it held Bushland on a fourth down play at the Wildcats 23-yard line with just over a minute left to go before halftime and a chance to add to their lead.
Mitchell picked up 44 yards on three running plays then connected on two short passes to move Canadian quickly down the field to the Falcons 20 with three seconds remaining. Flores, on his only reception of the night, ran a seam route out of the backfield and found a wide-open middle of the field. The junior gunslinger put it on the money at the five and his backfield running mate did the rest to give the visitors a 14-0 halftime lead.
Flores made the Falcons pay again as he toted the rock 67 yards for a score on the second play from scrimmage to begin the second half and the Wildcats looked to be in total control, on top 21-0.
However, that was the last series Mitchell would play and Bushland’s Parker Hall, getting his first start of the season, shook off a sluggish first half to get the Falcons back in the game.
After the Flores score, the Falcons offense moved quickly down the field to the Canadian six where Hall found Colton Foote out of the backfield for a score to cut the Wildcats lead to 21-7. Just four minutes later, it was Hall finding Reece Melban in the middle of the field on a 2nd and 25, the speedy junior outraced the Wildcats secondary to the end zone for a 75-yard touchdown strike to cut a three-score lead down to one.
Hall, who went a paltry 7-13 for 37 yards in the first half, put up crazy numbers in the second half, going 13-16 for 272 yards. Bushland head coach Josh Reynolds was happy to see his quarterback settle in. “He’s a competitor who found players in space to make big plays and kept us in the game”.
Bushland felt poised to tie this one as they marched to the Wildcat one with less than five minutes to play facing a third and one. An errant snap sailed beyond Hall, who fell on the loose ball at the fifteen. That play proved costly as it forced the Falcons to settle for a 32-yard field goal from Reece Melban. Instead of a potential tie game, Bushland still trailed 21-17, and Cervantes’ subsequent heroics on the next drive.
Reynolds was proud of his kid’s effort but knows you can’t fall behind in a game like this. “We have to start better, and we can’t afford to get behind like that against a quality team like Canadian. The fight feels good but, ultimately, we have to put four quarters together”.
Bushland’s offense, led by Hall, saw Melban finish the night with three catches for 146 yards and a score and Jordan Mariscal pulled down five balls for 67 yards.
Photo gallery by Joe Garcia III:
