OAKLAND — Danny Jones spent three quarters waiting for the other cleat to drop.
Jones fully understands the identity of Amador Valley, a team that prides itself on wearing down its opponents. They exhibited that strength in last week’s win over Bishop O’Dowd to win its first NCS title in school history. So, for three quarters — three frustrating quarters — Jones waited to see if the Dons would, as they’ve done all season, outlast their opponent.
“We were waiting for it to happen,” said Jones, Amador Valley’s head coach.
Amador Valley, indeed, made it happen, outscoring McClymonds by 18 points in the fourth quarter en route to a 44-33 victory to capture the Division 3-AA NorCal title.
“We were waiting for some of those things to kind of go our way,” Jones said. “But when you play a really good football team like that, it takes a lot longer to wear them out, especially when you’re in this kind of game where the winner goes to the state championship. You’re going to get everybody’s best. So, it was an incredible fourth quarter.”
“We got tired at the end, and we just didn’t have enough to finish,” said McClymonds head coach Michael Peters. “I mean, the guys played great, great enough to win, but we just didn’t have enough left to finish.”
Amador Valley will travel south to Long Beach City College and play Frontier-Bakersfield (10-4) for the Division 3-AA state championship.
The Dons spent most of the game trailing to the Warriors. Amador Valley opened up the scoring on its first drive as quarterback Tristan Tia madly scrambled for nearly 10 seconds before dumping the ball off to junior running back Vince Maiorana, who took the ball 43 yards to the house for a touchdown.
McClymonds, in turn, responded with 19 unanswered points. Staples connected with Tamale for an 11-yard touchdown in the first quarter, then found the end zone himself on the next possession on a quarterback keeper in the second quarter. To open up the third, Tamale reeled off a 67-yard.
Tamale’s run not only extended McClymonds lead to 19-8, but kickstarted roughly 24 straight minutes of back-and-forth action.
Amador Valley responded with its first score since the first quarter as Tia muscled into the end zone on a four-yard quarterback keeper. 19-16, McClymonds.
McClymonds got the lead back to double figures as Tamale scored his second touchdown of the night with a six-yard run. 27-16, McClymonds.
Tamale wasn’t the only running back finding the end zone. Duenas brought the game back to single digits with his first score of the evening, a four-yard rushing touchdown. 27-22, McClymonds.
On the very first play of the fourth quarter, Tamale one-upped himself to the tune of a 73-yard rushing touchdown, his third score of the night. 33-22, McClymonds.
“That dude, let me tell you what — 18 on their team is a dog,” Jones said of Tamale, who rushed for 297 all-purpose yards (279 rushing yards). “He is a very good football player.”
It was here, down 11 points with one guaranteed quarter left in its season, that Amador Valley put together a complete 12 minutes of football.
“Knowing that our season was coming to an end, that’s what clicked for us,” Tia said. “We didn’t want the season to end like that.”
On Amador Valley’s second play of the fourth quarter, Tia threw a perfect deep ball to junior Aidan Foley for a 60-yard touchdown, slimming the deficit to three points in less than a minute of game time. 33-30, McClymonds.
The Dons’ defense responded not just with a stop but with a three-and-out, forcing the very first punt of the ballgame. Setting the table for the defensive effort was senior kicker Ethan Ling, who pinned the Warriors at their own one-yard line.
Amador Valley started its next possession on McClymonds’ 32-yard line, a possession that ended with Duenas cruising into the end zone untouched for an eight-yard score. 38-33, Amador Valley, with a little over five minutes remaining. And after forcing a turnover-on-downs well into McClymonds’ territory, Duenas iced the ballgame with a 12-yard score.
Down 11. Up. 11
“Our team has the best character,” said Duenas, who had 87 of his 106 rushing yards in the second half. “Everyone here is brothers. Everyone wants to fight for each other.”
