Merced wins rematch with Del Campo in D-III semifinal

After early playoff exits the last four seasons, you could see the emotion as the Merced High football players gathered after the postgame handshakes with the Del Campo players.

Players were jumping up and down, yelling and screaming. And Merced coach Rob Scheidt was right there with them.

The Bears are heading to the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III semifinals after avenging a season-opening loss to Del Campo with a 41-32 quarterfinal win over the fourth-seeded Cougars on Friday night.

The fifth-seeded Bears (9-3) will face top seed Oakdale (10-2) in the semifinals next Friday at The Corral.

“This is one of the most gratifying wins I’ve ever had,” Scheidt told his team as they gathered around him immediately after the game. “We came back here, where our quarterback got hurt and they beat us. We’ve come full circle.”

Scheidt wasn’t the only one feeling the pressure to get out of the second round.

“Me being a three-year varsity player, we have been a one-and-done team the last two years,” said Merced star Ulonzo Gilliam. “This is special because it’s my senior year. I’m finally going to the next level.”

The Bears (9-3) did it by sticking to the game plan Scheidt came up with in the rematch against a Del Campo team that was loaded with size up front on both sides of the ball. The Cougars offensive line featured two behemoths on the right side in Shavian Fiatoa-melei (6 feet, 325 pounds) and Stephan Poe (6-5, 329).

Gilliam ground out 108 rushing yards and two touchdowns, and Merced hit Del Campo with some big plays through the air in the form of a 75-yard touchdown pass from Jake Foss to Stephen Williams in the first quarter and a 67-yard touchdown pass from Foss to Tanner Pellissier in the fourth quarter.

“Our kids did an excellent job with the game plan,” Scheidt said. “Coming in, we felt we could throw the ball into spots, and we made some good plays down field. We knew it was going to be tough treading inside, but we had to stick with it, and we felt we could pop some big plays later in the game.”

Gilliam didn’t have a run more than 9 yards until he broke free for a 30-yard rush on his final carry, but the Bears kept prodding away with the ground game.

Rayveon Slaton also broke a 22-yard touchdown run that helped put the game away late as the Bears opened up a 41-24 lead with 2:47 remaining.

The rematch was much different than the first time the two teams met, when Merced was shut out in the first half and tried to rally late after losing Foss to a shoulder injury.

Returning to the scene of the injury had no effect on Foss.

“Not really,” Foss said. “I was just thinking about this game. We wanted to come out fast and attack, and that’s what we did. It’s awesome right now. The line protected me great, and our receivers were awesome.”

Del Campo only sacked Foss once in the game, as the senior completed 9 of 17 passes for 250 yards and the two scores.

Gilliam got the Bears sideline going early when he returned a fumble 50 yards for a touchdown on just the third play of the game. He scooped up a fumble by Del Campo’s 2,000-yard running back Greg Cabral.

“That’s a great start,” Gilliam said. “To get a defensive turnover and score. We stood him up, and Paul Scoggins stripped the ball. I just took it to the house.”

The Cougars (6-6) cut the lead to 6-3 with a field goal, but the Bears answered with a three-play scoring drive, as Foss found Williams open for the long scoring strike.

“I knew I could beat him by the way he was playing me,” Williams said. “He played outside of me, so I knew if I could run inside, I’d be wide open. He gave me a lane to run.”

The Cougars got a big play from Cabral on a 65-yard touchdown run to help cut the lead to 19-10 at the half.

Del Campo then pulled within 19-17 after Chris Bice hauled in a 21-yard touchdown pass from Tyler Dimino midway through the third quarter.

However, the Bears answered on their next play with the Foss-to-Pellissier long touchdown pass to extend the lead to 26-17.

Merced then opened the fourth quarter with a scoring drive capped off with a Gilliam 2-yard touchdown run. The Bears converted the 2-point conversion on a pass from Dhameer Warren to Pellissier to take a 34-17 lead with 9:07 left.

Cabral did finish with 275 yards and two touchdowns on 29 carries, but he popped a lot of his big runs with the game out of reach.

“It was good to get that monkey off our back,” Scheidt said. “Now we have a chance to play in the semis against a great team coached by a great guy (Trent Merzon). They have a great stadium, and it will be a great atmosphere.”

This story was originally published November 19, 2016 at 5:53 PM with the headline "Merced wins rematch with Del Campo in D-III semifinal."