VIDEO: Jaguars hang on to beat Brawley

Valley Center's "cardiac cats" are at it again.

For the second week in a row, the fate of the Valley Center High School football game hung in the balance with only six seconds left on the clock.

And for the second week in a row, head coach Rob Gilster and the Jaguars walked off the field as winners, though both the coach and the team didn’t walk away unscathed.

“I’ve got a headache, and for a while there, I thought I was going to black out,,” Coach Gilster said with a tired chuckle after his team held on through an exhausting final drive to defeat Brawley 17–13 at home on Friday night.

The Jags scored a touchdown and added a field goal in the first half and the defense shut out the run-oriented Wildcat offense, giving Valley Center a ten-point lead at the break.

But Brawley came roaring back with 13 unanswered points in the second half to take a three-point lead in the fourth quarter.

The Jaguars re-took the lead with five minutes to go when Daniel DeLeon ran a quarterback sneak in for a three-yard touchdown, putting his team up 17–13, but with a lot of time still on the clock.

The Wildcats took to the air to try to get one more score, but the Valley Center defense came up with the big plays it needed to hang on for the win.

After poking fun at the physical toll the game took on himself, Coach Gilster turned serious when he spoke about the injuries that befell the Jaguars during the game.

Top receiver and cornerback Anthony Ricks briefly left the game in the first half with a sore ankle after getting tackled, but returned a few plays later with tape on his ankle. He came back for the second half without the ankle tape, but was limping noticeably on the field, and played only on offense until the final minutes. He remains questionable for Friday’s game at La Jolla.
Also in the first half, on the same offensive series, the Jaguars lost a pair of offensive weapons. The first to go down was receiver Jared Gilster, who absorbed a thumping tackle with his right shoulder and suffered a broken collarbone. He is expected to miss six to eight weeks.
Then, just five plays later, starting running back Brad Dozier caught a long pass and took a big hit that knocked his helmet off. It was originally suspected that Dozier suffered a concussion on the play, so he did not return to the game. Coach Gilster confirmed this week that Dozier did not suffer a concussion and he is expected to play on Friday night.

“That’s six positions right there,” Coach Gilster said of the trio of two-way players. “We had to move guys around and bring guys up who haven’t played much. We had [Dustin] Dendy switching to defense, [Josh] Lucas playing more of an H-back position, Jacob [Cunningham] running the ball more, and Caleb [Kim], a guy who wasn’t going to play, now he’s out there winning games for us. It was a great team win because guys stepped up and made plays when we had to have them.”

Perhaps the most crucial play of the game came on the final Valley Center drive of the night, a drive that resulted in the game-winning touchdown.

Five plays before DeLeon’s touchdown run, the Jaguars faced fourth-and-six at the Brawley 45-yard line. On third down, DeLeon had tried to hit Ricks on a slant, but the pass came in a little bit behind the receiver and was knocked away. Coach Gilster called in the same play for fourth down, and DeLeon delivered to Ricks, who fought through the pain in his ankle to make the catch and move the chains.

“I put the team on my back because I wanted it so bad for them,” Ricks said of the catch. “All I could think was just ‘Catch the ball.’ I knew Daniel would put it there and the offensive line did an amazing job blocking in front of him to let him get the pass away.”

DeLeon finished with 12 completions on 18 attempts for 109 yards and a touchdown through the air. He also added six rushes for eight yards and a touchdown on the ground.

His favorite target was Ricks, who hauled in five passes for 53 yards and a score, while Lucas had three catches for 31 yards, Gilster had two receptions for 16 yards, Dozier caught one pass for seven yards and Cunningham had one catch for three yards.

On the ground, Dozier racked up 64 yards on 12 carries before his injury, then Cunningham took over and carried the ball 11 times for 42 yards.

Here are some video highlights from the action:

Video by Kelly Kidder

 Daniel DeLeon connects with Anthony Ricks for a 15-yard touchdown.

Derikie Blaze slashes through a block to stuff the runner on fourth down.

Dano Da Silva drills this 35-yard field goal.

The Wildcats lose control of the snap and the Jaguars appear to come away with the ball, but the officials rule that Brawley keeps possession.

Jared Gilster makes a big catch for a first down, but takes a big hit and leaves the game with an injury.

Brad Dozier makes a great catch down the field, but gets hit hard and loses his helmet. He did not return to the game.

DeLeon pushes through the pile on a QB sneak to score what proved to be the game-winning touchdown.

Ricks makes a big tackle for loss on Brawley's final drive.

Larry Wheeler gets to the QB for a sack, but is penalized for a face mask.

Dustin Dendy lowers the boom on the Brawley QB for a sack on the second-to-last play of the game.

With only 6 seconds left in the game, the Wildcats throw a long pass down the field for a completion, but time runs out to end the game.