A move to the outside, a glance over his right shoulder and a
jump that left him at a 45 degree angle with his back facing the
ground was how Travis Reyes snatched a game-winning touchdown with
only 4.2 seconds remaining on the clock.
A move to the outside, a glance over his right shoulder and a jump that left him at a 45 degree angle with his back facing the ground was how Travis Reyes snatched a game-winning touchdown with only 4.2 seconds remaining on the clock.
The result was a 40-34 victory over the Los Gatos Wildcats in an epic contest Saturday at San Jose City College. The win sends GHS to its first-ever Central Coast Section football championship game where the team will play the Oak Grove Eagles at 7 p.m. Friday at SJCC.
Reyes’ catch was the culmination of a furious 11-play, 75-yard drive that took two minutes and 39 seconds.
“No, I don’t think I’ve ever been part of a game that’s been better than that,” Gilroy Coach Rich Hammond said. “I think part of it too was the contrasting styles. We were much smaller and faster, and they were much bigger and stronger. It was like old school versus new school.”
The old-school way might have been able to work had there been a little more time on the clock.
Wildcats running back Nick Kalpin had 38 carries for 263 yards and four touchdowns, his last score coming with 2:48 left in the game.
Comparing his running style to having a forcefield where defenders simply bounce off of him, Hammond said Kalpin was the best running back Gilroy had seen all season.
At the high school level “that guy had maybe the best balance I’ve ever seen,” Hammond said. “It was kind of like knocking down a tree. We had to give it a couple chops before he went down.”
With each team taking a lead three times in the game, GHS’ coach said he couldn’t have been happier with the effort his players showed.
“I was incredibly proud of our kids,” Hammond said. “How they weathered any storm and took care of business. Whatever needed to be done, we always seemed to come up with plays when we needed them.”
Plays Hammond could have been referring to include a 7-yard touchdown catch by Sean Hale to give Gilroy a 7-6 lead in the first quarter, a 5-yard rushing touchdown by Danny Contreras to go up 14-6 and a hook-and-lateral call just before halftime that tied the game at 20-all.
By far the craziest call of the game, quarterback Jamie Jensen hit Contreras in stride on a crossing pattern as defenders trailed the play. About to get hit, Contreras then flipped the ball to Dante Fullard, who was running just short of the play the other direction, for a 70-yard touchdown.
“We run it in practice and it never works,” Fullard said after the game. “But this time – got ’em.”
The Mustangs also got a small slice of redemption after 21 years. The last time GHS played Los Gatos in CCS, the team lost 14-10 in the semifinals. Now Gilroy will have a chance redeem its last CCS defeat, a 25-20 semifinal loss to Oak Grove in 2004.
The two schools met in week two of the regular season this year, a close game that ended 27-21 in the Eagles’ favor.
“I think this time we’re gonna take it back and run it down their throats,” senior linebacker Ethan Ogle said, “because we know their defense, and we can stop their offense.”
Ogle had a fumble recovery in the first half that occurred just two downs from scrimmage before Fullard’s trick-play touchdown. The play sandwiched in between Ogle’s recovery and Fullard’s score was one of many momentum turners in the contest. Los Gatos linebacker Karl Winkelman returned a Jensen fumble 66 yards for a touchdown for a brief 20-14 lead.
The second half had even more in store.
Scoring continued in waves as Kalpin carried the ball 56 yards for a touchdown with 5:27 left in the third quarter, dragging several defenders down the field before hurdling another.
Gilroy answered back when Contreras took the ensuing kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown – GHS’ first special teams return for a score this season – tying the game at 27-all.
“I was looking to the middle, and then I looked to the left and saw a little hole right there, so I took it,” Contreras said. “I had one other guy to beat, I made one move and got to the outside. Once I got to the outside I knew I had a chance to break it, and I did.”
The Mustangs continued to break open the game when Hale blocked a punt on the next Los Gatos possession, and Lelan Gettys recovered at the Wildcats’ 29-yard line.
Reyes caught a 7-yard touchdown 10 plays later with 11:15 remaining in the game.
Gilroy’s Jensen was almost flawless aside from the first-half fumble. He completed 30-of-41 passes for 334 yards and four touchdowns, while also picking up key yards on scrambles when flushed from the pocket. The performance helped Jensen establish a new CCS record for passing yards in a single season (3,914) with a game still to play.
After the contest, GHS’ quarterback was more focused on what had just occurred than any record.
“They were tough, the best team we’ve played all year,” Jensen said. “They weren’t undefeated for no reason.”
The Wildcats ended the season 10-1-1, while the Mustangs have now tied the school record for wins by improving to 10-2.
