Boulder Creek claims overtime win in opener
MARC BUCKHOUT ~ MANAGING EDITOR ~ 9/1/2010

A strong start by the offense, a stellar second half by the defense and a couple of spectacular punts by junior Jacobus Van Leeuwen weren’t enough to settle the score in regulation at Pinnacle High School in Friday night’s season opener between Boulder Creek and the host Pioneers.
Instead the Jaguars dug deeper, going to overtime to pull out a 21-14 win on the road as junior quarterback Trevor Bonifasi hit senior wide receiver Harrison Stewart in the back of the end zone on third-and-goal from the 1 for what proved to be the game winner.
“It was a play that was good for us all summer in passing league,” Stewart said. “I saw Trevor scrambling and looking and I found a spot in the back. When he threw it my way I just had to focus on getting my feet down in bounds. It’s crazy. This is a big win against a good team.”
In high school football overtime consists of both teams getting the ball. Starting from the 10-yardline one team is given four downs to try and score. After those four downs the other team is given a chance. If the two teams are still tied the game continues.
After reclaiming the lead on Stewart’s catch, a fired up Jaguars defense took the field and responded to close the door on Pinnacle.
After two stellar plays, a tackle in the backfield for a 5-yard loss, and a quarterback pressure by defensive end Zack Brown, Pinnacle faced a 3-and-goal from the 15.
On the play Pinnacle quarterback Jackson Harley fired a pass to his slot receiver Bryce Colceri, who appeared to have a step to the inside at the goal line. Instead junior defensive back Marquis Bundy got a hand on the ball at the last second to strip the ball away for an incomplete pass.
On Pinnacle’s final chance a hurried Harley threw behind his receiver on fourth down. As the ball harmlessly hit the turf the Jaguars broke into a spirited celebration.
“This is a huge victory,” Boulder Creek coach Dan Friedman said. “I have a lot of respect for Pinnacle and their coaching staff. This one will be worth a lot of power points, because they’re going to win a lot of games this season.”
Bundy’s effort defensively was just one of many big plays turned in by the Jaguars secondary.
“Both {Jimmy}Boulton and {Isaiah} Huston, who is just a sophomore, came up big for us,” he said. “Our defensive staff did a great job scheming things up tonight.”
After Boulder Creek jumped out to a 14-0 first quarter lead on a 4-yard touchdown run by senior Mike Contreras, one of his two first quarter scores, the host Pioneers would work their way back into the game in the second quarter.
A methodical 10-play 75-yard march to make the score 14-7 was capped by a 4-yard touchdown run from Cody Gibson on 4th-and-1.
When Boulder Creek’s offense couldn’t respond Pinnacle would score in short order to tie the score. The big play came from Harley, who showed off his speed on a quarterback draw, going 75-yards, to tie the score with 1:51 to go before halftime.
Despite squandering the lead Friedman said the team was upbeat at halftime.
“We kept shooting ourselves in the foot tonight, but thankfully we eventually ran out of bullets,” he said. “It’s a first game, so you have to expect some mistakes, but I liked our resiliency. The coaches were upbeat in the locker room. We said we won the first quarter, they won the second quarter, here are the adjustments we need to make and we’ll win
the second half.”
The scoreless second half wasn’t due to lack of chances. Both teams moved the ball at times, but the two defenses stood tall when necessary.
Pinnacle’s first possession of the second half saw the Pioneers move from their own 45-yardline to the Jaguars 12. Electing not to kick a field goal Pinnacle was turned away on fourth down when a strong pass rush led to a poor throw from Harley.
Early in the fourth quarter Pinnacle had another strong drive going, moving from their own 18 to the Jaguars 26. This time Boulton slid in front of Pinnacle’s Nick Cappellini to make a diving interception of another Harley pass on the Jaguars 10-yard line with approximately eight minutes remaining in the game.
When Boulder Creek’s offense couldn’t move the ball Van Leeuwen, a junior, was asked to bail his team out. Punting from his own 11, Van Leeuwen came up with a gem, a 57-yard boot that effectively changed field position for the Jaguars.
Later in the fourth both teams would have scoring chances. The Jaguars, on their best drive of the second half, went from their own 13 into Pinnacle territory. Facing a 2nd-and-10 from the Pioneers 46 yard line, and with only 1:55 remaining in the game, Bonifasi, who had nearly been picked off the previous play, turned the ball over when his pass intended for Contreras was behind the Jaguars running back and intercepted by Elijah Guillory.
“It was a hot read and Mike didn’t hear my call,” Bonifasi said. “It was a miscommunication. I have faith in the defense, but there wasn’t much time left so I was a little worried we might not get another chance.”
Instead the Jaguars defense would respond with a big play of its own. With only 57.5 seconds remaining and Pinnacle facing a 3rd-and-12 from the Jaguars 32 Harley, who had completed a deep ball against Huston early in the first quarter, tried to pick on the sophomore again. This time Huston was ready for it. On a deep throw down the sideline Huston jump high into the air and intercepted the pass on the Jaguars 5-yardline.
When Boulder Creek couldn’t move the ball again from deep in their own territory the Jaguars would turn to their special teams one more time as Pinnacle used its timeouts to try and come up with a blocked punt to set up one last scoring chance.
Instead Van Leeuwen came up in the clutch, getting off a 45-yard effort against a heavy rush, to all but assure the Jaguars would get a chance in overtime.
“What can you say about the job he did,” Friedman said. “Those were huge punts. I liked what we got out of our special teams. You have some guys that don’t start on offense or defense out there, but they’ve bought into the fact that they can make a big impact by making tackles on our coverage units. This was a total team effort tonight.”
With perennial power Chaparral providing the opposition in Friday’s home opener the Jaguars let it be known that they aren’t the same team that the Firebirds handled 42-7 in the 2009 season opener.
“I think we showed that we’ve got a good team, that we’re going to be somebody teams are going to have to play well to beat,” Bonifasi said. “This was an amazing way to start the season.”
Contreras finished the game with 16 carries for 49 yards and six receptions for 54 yards. Bonifasi finished with 187 yards on 22-of-39 passing with two touchdowns
and two interceptions.