Downey kicks field goal on the final play to defeat Merced in defensive battle
Downey High School coach Jeremy Plaa preached perseverance to his team this week.
It paid off on Friday night as the Knights drove down and Elijah Reyneveld kicked a 20-yard field goal on the final play to give Downey a gritty 20-17 victory over Merced at Cathie Hostetler Stadium.
“Our kids persevered,” said Plaa, whose team improved to 3-0 this season. “Lots of things went wrong, we missed a lot of things and Merced was a big reason we missed most of that stuff.”
Both teams came into the matchup ranked in the top 25 in the Sac-Joaquin Section by MaxPreps, with the Knights ranked No. 8 and Merced at No. 21.
The Bears (1-2) had battled back, driving 80 yards to tie the score at 14 just minutes before. Merced quarterback Carter Haugen connected with senior receiver Jeremiah Folau on a 26-yard touchdown pass with Folau making a nice catch in the end zone over a Downey defender.
The Knights took over at their own 40-yard line with 3 minutes and 27 seconds remaining.
Downey quarterback Conner Stoddard made two big throws on the game-winning drive, connecting with Joseph Ramirez on a 12-yard pass. Two plays later, Stoddard found running back Ki Ragland for a 20-yard pass to move the ball deep into Merced territory.
Ragland carried the ball five times for 24 yards on the final drive to set up Reyneveld’s game-winning kick.
Merced coach Rob Scheidt did his best to ice Reyneveld on the final kick, calling two timeouts.
“You never know what’s going through his mind,” Plaa said of Reyneveld. “He’s a true kicker.”
Both teams had to overcome their own mistakes and two defenses that played well.
“We showed a lot of grit at the end when we made the stop,” Scheidt said. “We’re able to drive the football down and get a score. I am just proud of our guys. We gave up one big play in the second half. One drive in the first half to a team that’s scored close to 100 points in two games.”
Merced hurt itself on offense, drawing six pre-snap penalties on false starts and motion violations. The Bears were also flagged for holding on offense three times.
“All those little plays could amount to sustained drives, making possible scoring opportunities,” Scheidt said. “False starts, movements, bad snaps, inopportune penalties, a holding call or a clip at the wrong time. Those are drive killers.”
Downey scored first late in the first quarter on a 5-yard touchdown run by Stoddard. The Knights quarterback completed 19 of 25 passes for 307 yards and one touchdown.
The Bears answered back in the second quarter after converting on a big fourth-and-25 play with running back Chase Smith throwing a pass to quarterback Carter Haugen for 25 yards down to the Downey 1-yard line.
Smith then scored two plays later on a 1-yard touchdown run to tie the game 7-7 with 2:27 left in the second quarter. Smith finished with 73 yards on 23 carries.
It took Downey just four plays in the second half for Stoddard to connect with Ramirez on a 48-yard touchdown pass to take a 14-7 lead with 10:34 left in the third quarter.
The game stayed that way until the final minutes.
“Both defenses played lights out,” Plaa said. “I thought we would have a hard time bottling up (Smith). I’m sure he had a good yardage night but I think we did a pretty good job against him.”
Downey hosts Beyer next Friday and Merced travels to Elk Grove to face Monterey Trail.
This story was originally published September 3, 2022 at 12:32 AM with the headline "Downey kicks field goal on the final play to defeat Merced in defensive battle."
