After Saturday’s overtime loss to open the season, a football game in which host Los Altos High led most of the way, Eagles coach Mike Garrity’s takeaway was the same as his offseason message: Finish.
Los Altos built a 13-0 lead against Monte Vista Christian entering the fourth quarter behind its strong defense but allowed 20 points unanswered in the final quarter and overtime to lose 20-13. The Eagles surrendered the game-tying touchdown pass on the final play of regulation.
Garrity said his team had multiple opportunities to score and make plays to win in the fourth, but drops, errant field goals and missed tackles cost Los Altos the game.
“We’ve just got to be able to finish in the fourth quarter,” Garrity said. “We had a similar issue last year where fourth quarters gave us trouble, and I think that’s something we have to address. It’s something we can’t be shy about saying. They finished in the fourth quarter, and we didn’t.”
With under two minutes left in the fourth and starting from their own 26, the visiting Mustangs drove to the 15-yard line. Then, as time expired, quarterback Dominic Pierini connected with receiver Nico Downie in the deep corner of the end zone to tie the game at 13. An excessive celebration penalty pushed the extra-point try back 15 yards, and the kick missed.
Monte Vista Christian got the ball first in overtime, given four chances to score from the opponent’s 10. The Mustangs did so on Pierini’s 10-yard throw to Connor Pallott.
Down seven after the extra point, Los Altos failed to respond on its four plays from the 10.
A game that began so bright for the Eagles faded in the closing moments.
“We ran out of gas, and that’s something we need to figure out quickly,” Garrity said.
Los Altos linebacker Levy Nguyen said the team must work even harder in practice this week and transmit that energy into future games – starting with Friday’s 7 p.m. contest at Rancho San Juan of Salinas. He is confident the team will improve as the season progresses.
“We will bounce back,” the junior said. “We are going to do our best in practice.”
The Eagles went into halftime of Saturday’s game with a 13-0 edge, thanks to a pair of second-quarter TDs. At the 9:01 mark, receiver Andrew Campos caught a 25-yard touchdown pass on a fourth-and-9 play from quarterback Noah Beedon, who later added a 1-yard TD run. Running back Harry Sayers played a key role in the second score and finished with nearly 100 yards on the day.
The Los Altos defense forced several sacks, three punts and made a fourth-down stop in the first half to stymie the Monte Vista Christian offense.
“The first and second quarter, we played really well, stopping any touchdowns,” Nguyen said.
After two defensive fumble recoveries from Los Altos in the third, the game took a backseat to an injury that occurred with two minutes left in the quarter. A Monte Vista Christian player went down after a punt-return collision and was taken away in an ambulance. Sunday, Mustangs coach Spencer Ferrari-Wood said the player, junior lineman Taylor Fernandez, lost feeling in his hands and feet and remained at Stanford Medical Center.
“We are all just praying for a full recovery,” Ferrari-Wood said.
Following a half-hour delay, Ferrari-Wood said his captains wanted to continue playing after both teams prayed together at midfield.
“We were thinking, ‘We hope this kid is OK,” Nguyen said. “We don’t want anyone getting hurt because of a game.”
Ferrari-Wood praised Los Altos school staff, coaches and students for activating their emergency action plan.
Garrity said the delay affected his team, with the afternoon game lasting three and a half hours.
Ferrari-Wood was proud of his team for clawing back after tough circumstances to win.
“It was a crazy end to a crazy day,” he said.
