“We gave up too many big plays at the end of the game,” Weston Ranch coach Ron Wayman said. “You have to learn not to do that, especially when two-thirds of your team are freshmen and sophomores. We gave it up but fought hard at the end.”
With 1:45 left in the game, Namir Brown-Sanger (12 carries, 148 yards, two touchdowns; 3 of 5 passing, 70 yards, touchdown) galloped 84 yards on third down and 12 yards to go for a first down to put the Cougars (1-1) ahead 26-12. He appeared to be down at the line of scrimmage but somehow squirted out and went the distance.
“It was a very exciting game,” Brown-Sanger said. “I just kept moving my feet on that long run and once I got past everyone I had a flashback to freshman year when I got snatched down so I had to run as fast as I could.”
The Mustangs (0-2) wasted little time in answering. Twelve seconds later, Roy Gardner (six receptions, 160 yards) pulled in an 80-yard touchdown pass from Amare Brooks (17 of 22 passing, 347 yards, two touchdowns) to bring Mountain House within 26-18.
After forcing Weston Ranch to turn the ball over on downs, Mountain House ran a hook and ladder from the Cougars 44-yard line to the 20 with 2.3 seconds on the clock. With time for one play, Brooks threw an 18-yard pass to Dexter Francis. Stopped at the 2, Francis fumbled and Gardner gobbled up the loose ball and stepped in the end zone to make the score 20-18
The Weston Ranch pass rush came through on the conversion attempt, forcing an incomplete pass with no time on the clock to preserve the win.
“This whole week we worked on our pass rush with Zyale Brown-Sanger and Joseph Richardson really pressing their quarterback,” Wayman said.
After scoring on a 1-yard plunge in the third quarter to tie the game at 6-6, Namir Brown-Sanger put the Cougars ahead 12-6 early in the final period when he followed a beautiful block by
Elijah Rivers on a 25-yard run for a touchdown.
“He (Rivers) gave me a really good block,” Namir Brown-Sanger said. “I just danced around with the guy behind him, got to the edge and scored.”
Rivers was focused on paving the way for Namir Brown-Sanger.
“I had to make a big move for our quarterback,” Rivers said of his block. “So I put it all on the line and we went up by a touchdown.”
SCORING SUMMARY
Mountain House 0 6 0 18 — 24
Weston Ranch 0 0 6 20 — 26
Second quarter
M — Dexter Francis 24 pass from Amare Brooks (run fail), 11:49
Third quarter
W — Namir Brown-Sanger 1 run (kick fail), 4:59
Fourth quarter
W — Brown-Sanger 25 run (run fail), 9:50
W — Andre Hughes 13 pass from Brown-Sanger (Mauricio Morales-Gonzales kick), 4:09
M — Roy Gardner 8 run (pass fail), 2:27
W — Brown-Sanger 84 run (Morales-Gonzales kick), 1:45
M — Gardner 80 pass from Brooks (pass fail), 1:33
M — Gardner 2 fumble recovery (pass fail), 0:00
