Central Valley misfires as it comes within a play of downing Sierra

Down by six points, the Central Valley High football team faced a fourth-and-goal from Sierra’s 3-yard line with time for just one more play.

“We were going to run behind our two senior linemen with our best back,” said Hawks coach Scott Edwards.

But a false start penalty moved the ball back and Central Valley was forced to pass, a throw that was picked off to seal the Timberwolves’ 20-14 non-league victory on Friday night at Ceres High School.

The Hawks had 13 first downs to just six for Sierra and ran 86 plays on offense, with drives of 16, 14 and 11 plays.

“We’re going to be a high drama team all year,” said Edwards, whose team falls to 1-1 on the season. “We grinded but we shot ourselves in the foot and they got big plays at key moments.”

With the game knotted 14-14, Sierra’s Nick Stanley hit David Reyes for a 65-yard scoring strike with 1:47 remaining. A two-point conversion try was no good.

Central Valley drove 60 yard in the game’s final seconds to get within 3 yards of tying the score.

Hawks quarterback Miguel Jimenez completed 12 of 20 passes for 114 yards, with one touchdown and three interceptions.

This story was originally published September 2, 2017 at 1:44 AM with the headline "Central Valley misfires as it comes within a play of downing Sierra."