A controversial two-point conversion attempt stop by Rancho Bernardo High School proved to be the difference in Fridays 28-27 opening-round CIF San Diego Section Division 1 playoff game victory over Brawley Union.
The game was an offensive masterpiece pitted against two stout defenses. The only punt in the game came in the final minute of play.
“We were in a battle but all three phases of (the) team contributed to this win,” Rancho Bernardo coach Eric Weddle told his team after the game. “Both teams played well but we made the plays when we needed to and we are moving on.”
Rancho Bernardo will now travel to take on the second-seeded Carlsbad (7-3) in a quarterfinal playoff game at Lancers’ field on Friday, November 15th at 7:00 p.m.
Friday night’s game pitted the Palomar League’s second-place and seventh-seeded Broncos (9-2,) against the Imperial Valley League champion and 10th-seeded Wildcats (9-2).
After trading touchdowns in a first-half that ended in a 14-14 tie, Rancho Bernardo freshman quarterback Gaige Weddle drove the Broncos’ 80 yards in eleven plays to take a 21-14 lead.
In the drive, Weddle passed for 42 yards and rushed five times for another 39 yards including a one-yard quarterback sneak for the touchdown.
“It was a team effortthere were openings for me to run and I took advantage of them to keep the drive going,” Weddle said. “The team looks to me for leadership but it’s ‘we’ not ‘me’ on the field.”
Weddle was a force on both offense and as a defensive back, no surprise to his coach.
“He’s worked hard to prepare for this moment to lead this team,” Eric Weddle said. “No one wants to win more than he does.”
On the following possession, Brawley senior quarterback Matthew Gutierrez connected on a 26-yard pass to senior Brandon Porras to tie the game at 21-21.
On the ensuing kickoff, Bronco junior Silas Christiansen returned his sixth kickoff of the season for a touchdown and Brawley suddenly trailed again, 28-21.
“The first two times they kicked it into the end zone but that time they kicked it to Jayden (Bess),” Christiansen, who runs a 10.5 100 meters, said. “I went behind him and he pitched it to me and I reversed field and I saw all the way to the end zone.”
“That was a huge special-teams play his spark was important to our win he’s special,” Eric Weddle said.
The Wildcats then drove 73 yards in 14 plays to score on another pass from Gutierrez to Porras.
On the play, Brawley senior wideout Sergio Garcia was seemingly held on an incomplete pass from Gutierrez when the referee closest to the play threw a penalty flag.
The controversy came following a conference by the officiating crew, resulting in the flag being waved off. An interception by Rancho Bernardo senior Dylan Inigo eventually sealing the victory.
“We couldn’t have gone to overtime, we have played ten straight games and we were bruised and tired,” Brawley coach Lawrence Landy said. We left it all out there on the fieldI’m proud of these guysthey showed San Diego that Brawley is capable of playing D-1 football.”
TOM RONCO