Near coaching blunder turns into key play in Patterson win

Patterson High School football coach Rob Cozart was ready to let the clock run down and punt near the end of the first half Friday night. The only problem was, it wasn’t fourth down.

When Cozart finally realized it was third down, he rushed to call timeout with about 25 seconds left on the clock.

It proved to be just enough time for the Tigers to run three plays for 58 yards and a score. Quarterback Kevin Todd found Michael Lawson for a 50-yard reception. After stopping the clock, Todd found receiver Tevita Kelepi on a slant route for an eight-yard touchdown pass with two seconds left in the second quarter to give the Tigers a 10-point lead at the half, and Patterson went on to defeat Atwater 37-10 on Friday night at Falcon Field.

“I looked like an idiot, and No. 8 (Todd) to No. 3 (Lawson) bailed me out,” Cozart said. “We knew with that route combination it would give us some things to work with.”

With the Tigers (4-0) facing third and forever with under 30 seconds left in the half, the Falcons (1-3) somehow let Lawson get one-on-one with a defensive back.

The play changed the game. The Falcons had battled back behind their defense, which had held the Tigers to one touchdown despite three trips into the red zone in the first quarter.

The Atwater offense had also started to move the ball with some big runs from Noah Torres (80 yards on eight carries) and Michael Vargas (85 yards on 11 carries).

Efrain Perez made a 32-yard field goal to cut the Patterson lead to 7-3. After the Falcons forced a three-and-out, Atwater drove 63 yards on eight plays, with Frank Cocio firing a 24-yard scoring pass to Josh Wilson to give the Falcons a 10-7 lead with 3:28 left in the half.

Even after Patterson answered with a touchdown on a one-yard run by Todd, the Falcons were still in good position, down 13-10 with Atwater starting with the ball in the second half.

The Falcons never regained momentum after Lawson’s big pass play set up the late first-half touchdown.

Patterson kept Atwater off the scoreboard in the second half and Todd found Joanthan Okitukunda for touchdown passes of 52 and 28 yards less than two minutes apart that extended the lead to 34-10.

The Tigers were able to shake off some early sloppiness to win going away.

“This was Army versus Navy,” Cozart said. “It’s not a good game when you got triple-option versus triple-option. Everyone wants this film because they want to see how a triple-option team thinks it can stop themselves. I still thought there were times when we looked really good. I think our fast tempo gave us a good advantage.”

Tood completed 10 of 13 passes for 198 yards and three touchdowns. He also added two one-yard touchdown runs.

“I did what I had to do,” Todd said. “When it’s time for someone to step up you have to be a leader.”

The bye this week comes at a good time for Patterson after Lawson suffered a back contusion after he was hit late on a punt return with 9:21 in the third quarter. He didn’t return to the game. Receiver Pierre Williams also suffered a shin contusion.

“(Lawson’s) back started spasming on the field, so we got him out of there,” Cozart said. “We were up in the game and we’re going into a bye week, so there was no reason to run those guys back out there.”

Atwater also lost Cocio to a left-shoulder injury in the second half that forced wing back Nathaniel Gilmore to play quarterback. Gilmore finished with 69 rushing yards on four carries. Fifty of the yards came when he was playing quarterback.

“I told Gilmore I was proud of him,” Valladao said. “He’s playing nonstop for us on defense and he didn’t hesitate at all to take snaps. He did whatever we asked. We had a lot of effort tonight, we’re just not there yet. The kids played with a lot of heart and we can work with that.”

This story was originally published September 19, 2015 at 9:37 PM with the headline "Near coaching blunder turns into key play in Patterson win."