Downey sneaks past Antelope in football playoffs

Downey quarterback P.J. Wilson took full responsibility for the Knights’ 13-point halftime deficit.

“I was way too excited in the first half,” said Wilson, a 5-foot-9, 160-pound senior. “I overthrew the ball. I made bad reads. I was trying to do too much.”

Wilson eventually settled down and helped rally his team to two second-half scores for a 20-19 victory over Antelope in the first round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II football playoffs Friday night at Chuck Hughes Stadium.

But make no mistake about it … Downey’s defense won this game.

“When the offense doesn’t score in the first half, the defense has to put us on their back,” said Wilson. “And I’ve got to try and find a way to reward them.”

Wilson did just that by hitting senior wide receiver Jeffry Jones on two touchdown passes – an 8-yard strike in the third quarter and a 22-yard connection in the fourth – to pull ahead by one point with 11:38 to play.

Downey’s defense forced the Titans to punt after just four plays, but the Knights’ offense went three-and-out. Antelope took over with 8:31 left.

The Titans embarked on an 11-play, 70-yard march that set them up with first-and-goal.

“We finally kind of figured them out in the second quarter,” Downey head coach Jeremy Plaa said. “This is a real big credit to these kids; our defensive line really stepped up tonight.”

On first down from the 8, Antelope gave the ball to Devaun Welch, who was dropped for a loss of 6 yards by junior linebacker Justin Wojick. On second down, Welch was stopped for a gain of 1, thanks largely to linebacker Tylino Wesley, who timed the snap perfectly and charged into the backfield to blow up the play. That brought up third-and-goal from the 13 – an obvious passing down.

Junior Tyler Pierce, a hybrid outside linebacker/cornerback, burst through the line to pressure Titans quarterback Montel Aaron.

“Coach always tells us to put one had up and never jump, so when that quarterback tries to spin away we can still get the sack,” said Pierce. “So, that’s what I did.”

Aaron tried to spin away, but Pierce would have none of it, sacking the quarterback for a loss of 14 with 34 seconds to play.

Antelope attempted a 44-yard field goal but it wasn’t close.

In the first half, Welch put the Titans up 7-0 on the game’s opening drive, and they were about to score on their second possession when free safety Tyran Daniels took matters into his hands.

On second-and-goal from the 9, Aaron rolled to his right and attempted to squeeze the ball into a tight window near the front pylon. But Daniels jumped the route and tight-roped his way along the home sideline for a 100-yard interception return.

“We were in a Cover 3 and in practice we’d been having trouble with guys getting into the seams,” said Daniels. “I saw a receiver cutting in front of me and I saw the quarterback looking at him; whe cocked his arm, I broke on it.”

And about how close did Daniels come to stepping out of bounds?

“Millimeters,” said Daniels. “I knew I was going to go all the way at about our 30 or 40.”

When the Knights missed the PAT, they trailed 7-6. Antelope would stretch the lead to 13-6 on a 7-yard TD run by Elijah Dotson, and 19-6 on a 33-yard dash by Mister Harriel, who finished with 17 carries for 105 yards, with just 16 coming after halftime.

Daniels had another drive-halting pick late in the second half, this one coming deeper in the end zone and resulting in a touchback.

After that, Antelope’s final six possessions resulted in three punts, a kneel-down at halftime and two missed field goal attempts.

Plaa, who won his second playoff game in eight seasons at Downey, summed up the night succinctly: “That’s playoff football.”

This story was originally published November 15, 2014 at 12:25 AM with the headline "Downey sneaks past Antelope in football playoffs."