Hughson rallies past Orestimba to reach Sac-Joaquin Section D-VI championship game
For 22 years the Hughson High football team has been trying to get back to the Sac-Joaquin Section championship game.
The wait is finally over.
Second-seeded Hughson rallied past third-seeded Orestimba for a dramatic 21-17 victory in a Division VI semifinal Friday night at Husky Memorial Stadium.
The Huskies earned a spot in next week’s title game against top-seeded Summerville. It will be Hughson’s first appearance in a final since 2000, when the Huskies, under legendary coach Reyn Franca, beat Colfax for the D-III title.
Friday’s victory was a tense one for the Huskies, who overcame a 10-point second-quarter deficit, then scored a touchdown in the final minutes to overtake the Warriors.
“It’s not the first time we’ve been down this year,” Hughson coach Shaun King said, “and we never give up. These kids never give up, never quit. They show up every day and give you everything they have.”
Sophomore quarterback Robert McDaniel passed for two touchdowns for Hughson, including the game-winning 13-yarder to fellow sophomore Malakai Sumter with 1 minute, 14 seconds left.
The Huskies (10-2) get a second crack at Summerville, which defeated Hughson 23-14 on Sept. 9. This time the winner gets a blue banner. The game will be played Saturday at 1 p.m. at St. Mary’s High in Stockton, the section announced.
“It’s redemption for us,” King said. “They got us here, last time we played back in Week 4, and it’s redemption for us. This is who we wanted.”
Hughson will be confident coming off a thrilling win over a tough Orestimba team, which won the Southern League and finished the season 10-2.
The Warriors appeared to be the more energetic team in the early-going and jumped out to a 10-0 lead midway through the second quarter.
But a scoring drive late in the first half — capped by McDaniel’s first touchdown pass — seemed to invigorate the Huskies’ offense, which carried through to the second.
Orestimba’s first drive of the second half ended when Hughson junior David Delgado intercepted a pass by Warriors quarterback Alex Millan.
Liam Bridgford’s 2-yard touchdown on the ensuing drive gave Hughson a 14-10 lead midway through the third quarter.
Orestimba responded and took a 17-14 lead late in the third quarter on Millan’s 31-yard touchdown pass to Vince Lopez.
The Huskies were forced to punt on their ensuing drive and Orestimba drove to the Hughson 16-yard line.
But on fourth-and-2, an Orestimba pass fell incomplete and Hughson was set up with a chance to drive the field and win the game.
King walked onto the field prior to the critical fourth-down play. His message to his defense? “This is it.”
“(I said) ‘Seniors ... I need one last play out of you,’” King said. “And they gave it to me.”
With the ball at their 16-yard line, the Huskies turned to their power running attack on the game-winning drive.
With Bridgford (103 yards) and Alex Villarreal (80 yards) running hard, Hughson drove the length of the field and chewed up the clock.
“We knew if we got 3 or 4 yards a play, we’d eventually score like we did, and we’d take time off the clock,” Bridgford said. “And we came out on top.”
The Huskies used the running attack to get them down to the Orestimba 13-yard line, then changed things up for the winning score.
Facing third-and-short with just over a minute to play, McDaniel ran a play-action pass that fooled the Orestimba defense and left Sumter wide open for the game-winning touchdown.
On the ensuing kickoff, Orestimba failed to grab a pooch kick and Hughson’s Gavin Stone recovered. The Huskies then ran out the clock.
It was a bitter loss for Orestimba, which has now fallen in the section semifinals three times.
“It’s just the way the game ended and the lack of making big plays later in the game, that’s going to sting for a time,” Orestimba coach Aaron Souza said.
The good news for the Warriors is that Millan, a junior, will be back next season. Millan passed for 127 yards and a touchdown and ran for 40 yards against a tough Hughson defense.
“Any time you win 10 games and put yourself minutes away from ... a section championship berth, that’s a special season,” Souza said.
Hughson can finish off a very special season with one more win.
The Huskies will now prepare for Mother Lode League powerhouse Summerville (11-1), which defeated fifth-seeded Bradshaw Christian 40-14 in Friday’s other semifinal.
Hughson knows it will have to play a better game this time if it wants to beat Summerville.
“We made a ton of mistakes that (first) game,” Delgado said. “We just need to show them that we’re real dogs.”
This story was originally published November 19, 2022 at 12:01 AM.
