Trojans stand pat, stun South
| Friday, Nov 20 2009 11:37 PM
Last Updated Friday, Nov 20 2009 11:37 PM
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Rod Thornburg / Special to The Californian South vs Foothill football #5 of Foothill Steven Beckman attemps to grab #21 Lee West of South, but came up empty handed.
Rod Thornburg / Special to The Californian South vs Foothill football South's #11 quarterback Roger Hebert hands off to running back #21 Lee West at South Friday night.
Rod Thornburg / Special to The Californian South vs Foothill football South's #21 Lee West runs through a maze of Trojan defenders. #6 Edgar Linares #12 Jacob Clagg, #42 Jesus Bueno, and #8 Ryan Rangle are being blocked by teammate #70 Julio Regila.
Rod Thornburg / Special to The Californian South vs Foothill football Foothill #2 Omar Urrea dodges South's #23 Arthur Espinoza.
Rod Thornburg / Special to The Californian South vs Foothill football South's #21 Lee West gets pulled down by Foothill's #32 Omar Urrea.
Rod Thornburg / Special to The Californian South vs Foothill football #2 Omar Urrea gets tug and pulled out of bounds by South's #17 Chris Green.
Rod Thornburg / Special to The Californian South vs Foothill football Bryant Ayala #55 of South gets a grip on Foothill's #8 Ryan Rangle an pulls him to the ground.
Foothill coach Mike Gregg didn't give a fiery pep talk. He knew his players didn't need it. His players down 6-0 at halftime, Gregg calmly told them to just keep doing what they doing.
The message proved to be simple but effective as the visiting Trojans came alive in the second half of their Central Section Division III first-round playoff game to beat South 21-14.
"It's huge for our program," Gregg said. "We had a lot of adversity this year. We had a lot of things happen. Our kids battled through it. I'm proud of them."
After being held to just 74 yards in the first half, No. 10 Foothill's offense found success with a trapping running game and a limited-but-effective passing attack to score three third-quarter touchdowns en route to the upset.
"I didn't have to say anything at halftime honestly," Gregg said "They held them to six (points) on one big play, and they really believed that they were going to come back out in the second half and do it."
No. 7 seed South (6-5) looked to be in command in the first half as senior running back Lee West ran wild, racking up 141 of the Rebels' 226 combined yards.
West, who finished with a career-high 239 yards rushing, got loose for a 99-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter. The TD, the only points of the first half, was West's 23rd of the season and broke former NFL star Brent McClanahan's 41-year old school record.
But several early long Rebel drives stalled, leaving the door open for Foothill (4-7).
On the first play from scrimmage of the second half, Denzel Givens got momentum going the Trojans' way with an 82-yard run that set up a short touchdown run by Curtis Fainter two plays later.
Foothill extended its lead to 14-6 three minutes later when sophomore quarterback Ryan Rangle connected with Ronnie Owens for a 41-yard touchdown pass.
Later in the third quarter, after West tied the game with a 60-yard touchdown run, Foothill answered with a 70-yard drive that ended with a 13-yard Givens touchdown run.
"It's very disappointing," West said. "We worked hard all year, and for it to end like this is very disappointing."
Givens finished with 139 yards despite being held to 23 in the first half.
"The first half they were bumping us," Givens said. "But I gave the line a little encouragement, and they took it to heart."
Late in the game, South drove to the 19-yard line with a chance to tie, but Roger Hebert's pass fell short as time expired.
"Every loss hurts," South coach John Wren said. "But we really felt that we were primed and ready to take the next step in the development of our program."
South ventured into Foothill territory on both of its second-quarter possessions but came away empty. West was held to 2 yards on a fourth-and-3 play early in the quarter, ending a Rebels drive at the Foothill 10 yard line. Later, on third-and-1 at the Trojans 33, Odail Crumb was thrown for a 2-yard loss and South was forced to punt.
"We probably left at least 21 points, if not more, on the table," Wren said. "If you leave points on the table, bad things happen. It's that simple."
Foothill made it past midfield only once in the first half. But the 9-play, 28-yard drive eventually stalled at the South 47 and the Trojans were forced to punt.
