It is one thing to describe a thrilling game as having “gone down to the wire” and it is quite another to have the cliche literally become true, as Perry and Nevada discovered last Friday at Dewey Field. Perry’s victory gives the Bluejays a rare 2-0 start; the team opens Class 3A District 2 play Friday with a visit to Ballard (2-0).
Perry replied to a Nevada (1-1) touchdown with three consecutive scores to take a 21-7 lead, only to have the Cubs trim the margin to 21-14 in the waning moments. A final drive to set up either a tying — or game-winning — touchdown ended on the last play of the game when Manasses Martinez knocked the ball out of the hands of Cubs receiver Matt Chitty.
Highlights appear courtesy of Perry offensive coordinator Matt Hardy.
1.) Perry quarterback Adan Medina found running room up the middle on several occasions Friday. Blocking from center Gabe Cubillo (66), left guard Tyler Soll (67) and a fine trap block from right guard Kevin Lopez (75) opened room for the first run shown, with Lopez blocking two different defenders to clear a path for the second run depicted. Medina has completed 11 passes and rushed 35 times through two games, totaling 126 yards both in the air and on the ground. The Bluejays now have 239 rushing yards for the season and have scored three times on the ground after gaining 610 yards and scoring only once on the ground in all of 2015.
3.) Senior defensive end Janier Puente (27) breaks free and blasts Cubs quarterback Macade Matuska, jarring the ball free. Perry’s Ethan McFarland (51) fell on the loose ball.
4.) Andrew Strottman grabs a swing pass and is hit low by Medina in the right flat. As Strottman tries to surge forward, Martinez (2) closes in and delivers a punishing hit, drawing exclamations from the Nevada crowd.
5.) Trailing 7-0, Perry rallied to score and tie the game in the third quarter when Medina connected with tight end Puente slanting over the middle for a 12-yard score.
6.) Perry went ahead, 14-7, in the fourth quarter when Medina rolled right, received blocking from right tackle Devon Archer (64) and fired a strike to Brandon Kenyon for a three-yard touchdown.
7.) The Bluejays scored the eventual winning touchdown when Puente (27) tipped a pass that Donald Chavez (25) ran under and grabbed at the 35-yard line. Chavez spun free, received a downfield block from Medina and raced to the corner of the end zone for a TD.
8.) Senior Tyler Soll recorded a pair of sacks in the contest, the first of which, shown here, resulted in a loss of seven yards.
9.) And so it all came down to this …
