O'Brien gets to be the hero after Olson is injured

Jonathan O'Brien has had to fill in for an injured Andrew Olson before. Just never when the stakes were so high.

With the game tied at 17 and just under 2 minutes to play, Olson was sidelined with a possible broken arm after a 13-yard pass completion to Zack Giuliano.

The Hilmar senior had fallen on his arm awkwardly while scrambling a little earlier, and a helmet to his forearm on the completion to Giuliano finished him off.

Hilmar was forced to burn one of its two remaining timeouts to assess the injury, and when the team emerged, O'Brien was at the helm.

"I just came to the sideline and I hear Andrew say, 'I think I broke my arm,' " O'Brien said. "Coach (Frank) Marques came over and asked if I wanted to go into the game. I said 'Heck yes.' "

With the ball at the Yellowjacket 39-yard line, O'Brien orchestrated the game winning drive.

Despite having no time to warm up, O'Brien came out firing. He completed all three passes he attempted for 29 yards, including a 15-yard strike to Tyler Silva that moved Hilmar into field goal range.

"I never even saw him," O'Brien said. "I just had faith he'd be where he was supposed to be.

"I never imagined I'd be at quarterback for the final drive, but it was a sweet feeling to win this one for Franky."

Perhaps no one wanted this one more than Olson.

After telling the coaches he thought his arm was broken, the senior wanted to go back into the game. He tried so hard to make his case, that the Hilmar coaches finally had to take away his helmet to prevent him from running back onto the field.

"They finally convinced me to stay out," said Olson. "I can't imagine anyone I'd have rather had replace me than Johny. He stepped up big."

So did Kurtis Bettencourt. His game-winning 42-yard field goal with 19 seconds left will be the play people recall of Hilmar's 20-17 victory, but O'Brien's late heroics are worthy of 1A status.

As for Bettencourt, the Hilmar senior found some vindication in kicking the winner. He missed two big field goals in the first game against Escalon, a 10-0 loss.

The senior made a bold decision to skip soccer this season and just play football. Obviously that proved to be a pretty good call on Friday night.

He also got to re-enact some history. Escalon coach Mark Loureiro tried to ice Bettencourt by calling three consecutive timeouts before he could get onto the field to kick.

Loureiro pulled the same move in the 2003 Section final against the Yellowjackets. Hilmar missed that kick and lost the game.

"Coach told me it was coming," Bettencourt said. "I was just laughing. The coaches were cracking jokes on the sideline ...

"What really helped me was making the first kick. After that my confidence was pretty high and I knew I just needed to do the same thing.