Thrilling comeback powers Hughson to first state title game in school history
Hughson High players, coaches and fans are used to it by now, but that doesn’t make it any easier to handle.
For the fifth straight game, the Huskies played in a nail-biter.
Unlike a section championship win over Summerville, Hughson was forced to play spoiler in Friday’s CIF Division 5-AA Northern California Regional Bowl Game against visiting Ripon Christian, the Sac-Joaquin Section D-VII champion.
Trailing by 18 points heading into the fourth quarter, the Huskies stormed back, scoring 21 unanswered points to win their first NorCal title in school history, 31-28, and advance to their first state championship game. Hughson will host Muir of Pasadena (9-6) at 6 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 10.
“At halftime I said, ‘I don’t know why you have to put us through this,’” Hughson coach Shaun King said. “That is what this team does. It will always be remembered. I don’t think anyone can duplicate the run we had.”
The Huskies were crowned state champions 25 years ago after winning the Division III section title.
“We have a state championship from 1997, but they didn’t have to go through winning a bowl (game), so this is the first time for us. This is special.” King said.
The Huskies could only come up with 10 points through the first three quarters but two scoring drives on their first two possessions of the fourth had them down 28-25 with just under 4 minutes left. After a defensive stop, they were tasked with driving 91 yards with 2 minutes, 56 seconds left.
The drive started slowly and Hughson found itself on its last leg, facing fourth-and-20 with 1:27 to go and the ball on its 34-yard line.
Sophomore quarterback Robert McDaniel found classmate Malaki Sumter for a 30-yard gain to keep the drive alive. The two connected for four catches and 64 yards in the final quarter.
“That fourth-and-20 was a huge play,” King said. “A sophomore throwing to a sophomore, what a special class. Football is all about momentum. Once we got that, that’s when I knew.”
Liam Bridgford rushed for 167 yards and one touchdown, but was a lead blocker on the game-winning touchdown — a 1-yard run by Alex Villarreal on fourth-and-goal with 14 seconds left.
“I didn’t think I was going to get the ball because we have a really good back in Liam,” Villarreal said. “After I got the ball, Liam made the block, kicked out his dude. David Delgado kicked out his dude, touchdown. The rest was history.”
End to historic season for Ripon Christian
The Knights got out to an early lead, but couldn’t answer any of Hughson’s touchdowns in the final frame.
Ripon Christian knew it would be fighting an uphill battle from the start as Griffin de Abreu, Thys Van Der Hoek and Jacob Kowes suffered devastating knee injuries in last Friday’s section championship game.
The absence of their senior leaders gave the Knights added motivation as they opened the game with an efficient drive capped by a 23-yard rushing touchdown from Derek Van Elderen.
A 55-yard touchdown pass from Trey Fasani to Eli Terpsma and a kickoff return of 85 yards for a touchdown by Brady Grondz capped an exciting first half. But just seven second-half points weren’t enough.
“Our kids were going to play for His glory and they added to the list that they were going to play for those three guys,” Knights coach Phil Grams said. “We came out swinging, and in the end, we just didn’t win the battle of attrition. They wore us down a little bit.”
The heartbreaking loss marks the end to a year that saw the Knights win 11 games and secure the first section title in the program’s 20th season. The Knights were on the field well after fans had exited from both sides of the bleachers. The group of 21 players embraced family, coaches and each other as Grams stood off to the side, proud of what the team had accomplished.
“(It’s) a historical season and I told the guys nothing can tarnish what they’ve done this year,” he said. “They’re gonna wear that blue banner proudly and we’ve set a higher standard for Ripon Christian football now. We got over that blue banner hump, now we’re gonna get over that next hump, too.”
This story was originally published December 3, 2022 at 11:48 AM.
