GRAND TERRACE — Trailing by one point with just under 5 minutes left in the game, the Grand Terrace football team needed a drive.
It got that drive, scoring with 30 seconds left on Samajay Green’s 5-yard touchdown run. Green’s score held up as the Titans defeated Eisenhower 36-29 in a Sunkist League game Thursday evening.
“Our mindset was just to focus play by play and not make any mistakes,” Grand Terrace offensive lineman Julian Yanez said. “I had full confidence going into the last drive. We have good running backs and a good line, and we train every day. We’re mentally strong and we’re disciplined.”
The big play on the winning 70-yard march was a 27-yard bolt down the left sideline by Michael Defalco (100 yards on 10 carries).
“Some of our guys started hanging their heads a little after (Eisenhower) went ahead,” Defalco said. “But I did my best to try to be a leader for the team and pick everyone up. We went out there and did what we had to do and took it down the field and got the touchdown. I love hard-nosed football.”
Grand Terrace dominated much of the second half, led by the offensive line of Abraham Gonzalez, Jayden Oliver, Yanez, Ruben Soto, and Isaiah Ortega.
Angelou Flamenco’s 3-yard touchdown run on the Titans’ opening drive of the second half gave Grand Terrace a 21-14 lead. Then Defalco’s 1-yard scoring run on the second play of the fourth quarter boosted the advanatge to 28-14.
But Eisenhower bounced back quickly on a 55-yard touchdown pass from Elijah Nechochea to Noah Hennison and a 25-yard scoring pass from Necochea to Hennison with 4:52 left. Kaden Bryant ran for the 2-point conversion, giving the Eagles a 29-28 lead.
Then, Grand Terrace went to work.
“We had some problems up front, but we’re really senior heavy on the O-line,” Grand Terrace coach Ryan Taylor said. “So we started to run the ball, and Jaden (Montano) our quarterback is a two-year starter and we depend on him to make the right decisions.”
Green, who hurt his ankle on the first drive of last week’s loss to Summit, bounced back nicely and led Grand Terrace (5-4 overall, 1-1 in league) with 103 yards on 17 carries. He also had two catches for 27 yards.
Necochea threw for 120 yards for Eisenhower (4-5, 1-1).
“I’m really proud of our kids,” Ike coach Al Brown said. “We have two seniors on the team and many of the of the kids are sophomores and we’re giving a lot of teams fits. We came up a little short tonight, but that’s part of it. You win some and lose some.”
Sophomore Raydynn Togagae, who plays defensive end, tight end, and some quarterback for Ike, had a good night with numerous big hits.
