Saddleback makes big defensive stop in final minute and holds on for win over La Quinta

Joey Wilson was one of the offensive stars for Saddleback Friday night. (Photos OC Sports Zone, Tim Burt)

It definitely wasn’t easy, but Saddleback High School’s football team took another step forward Friday night defeating La Quinta 42-35 in a non-league game at Segerstrom.

Saddleback (2-0) showed lots of offense, but it won the game with a big defensive stop in the final minute.

Trailing by seven, La Quinta had the ball on the Roadrunner 1-yard line with about two minutes remaining. But an illegal procedure penalty backed up the Aztecs and on a fourth down play at the 10, Saddleback was able to stop the run at the 6 yard-line with 54 seconds left. The Roadrunners then ran the clock out.

“That offense is kind of tough, there is so much mis-direction,” said Saddleback Coach Glenn Campbell. “When it came down it, we started doing what we were supposed to do. There were a couple mishaps in the first half, but we regrouped at halftime and found a way to get it done.”

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Saddleback took a 42-35 lead when quarterback Donavan Castellanos connected with senior Joey Wilson on a 30-yard TD pass with 50 seconds left in the third quarter.

The three-hour game on an 85-degree night was filled with penalties and turnovers. La Quinta was plagued by six turnovers, including five fumbles and Saddleback fumbled twice. There were also numerous injury timeouts.

Castellanos had a big game passing for 238 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for two touchdowns, a 15-yard score in the first quarter and a 50-yard run in the second quarter.

Wilson also starred for the Roadrunners hauling in a 62-yard TD catch in the first quarter and a 27-yard TD from Castellanos in the third quarter that tied the game. He wound up with five catches for 120 yards and also sparked the offense when he took the direct snap in the second half after Castellanos sat out for a while after being banged up a bit.

“Joey Wilson was the highlight of the night, I didn’t want to use him at wildcat yet but when Donavan went down, he’s our back-up quarterback and we had an opportunity with him,” Campbell said.

Castellanos later returned to the game.

“All 11 men on the field helped us,” Wilson said. “Our linemen, quarterback, tight ends, receivers even on defense, linebackers, linemen, corners, safeties all played a big part in it. As a team, we made a comeback, we got our stops and we executed and when the opportunity was presented, we did our thing. I want a shout out to our coach and a shout out to our team for believing in us.”

Wilson wasn’t expecting to see time at quarterback.

“It wasn’t planned, but If I see the opportunity I’m going to help to execute it and do whatever my job is,” said Wilson, who also had 45 yards rushing.

Saddleback’s special teams also got into the act with Luis Lopez returning a kick-off 60 yards for a score to put Saddleback ahead 28-27 at halftime.

La Quinta (0-2) took a 27-21 lead when quarterback Charles Grover connected with Erick Gonzalez on a 14-yard TD pass with 26 seconds left in the first half.

Gonzalez also had a 27-yard TD run in the first quarter. Ivan Acenas, Cooper Starnes and Grover also had TD runs for La Quinta. Grover’s run put the Aztecs ahead 35-28 with 8:43 left in the third quarter before Saddleback rallied.

La Quinta was effective on the ground with Christian Aparicio leading the way with 96 yards rushing and Acenas with 71 yards.

But in the end, Saddleback made the big play when it had to.

“I’m happy with the grit,” Campbell said. “One of the things we talked about is trust in each other and playing one more play, playing like it’s your last. I’m ecsatic with how we played tonight.”

—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com