Woodside hosted Milpitas in its final game of the regular season, coming out on top with a final score of 22 to 19.
The visiting Trojans put up a strong fight, scoring an early touchdown and limiting Woodside’s offense for much of the first half. But Woodside’s strong second half led the Wildcats to a come from behind win. Kick off occurred at 7 p.m. on Bradley Field.
Milpitas received the kickoff and got off to a near-perfect start thanks to a gutsy hook and ladder call that got the Trojans down to the 14-yard line. Milpitas then handed it off up the middle to open up the scoring on their first drive. The Wildcats got some breathing room, however, thanks to a missed extra point from the Trojan kicker, leaving the score at 6-0 Milpitas.
“We didn’t expect them to come out that good,” senior fullback Leo Sanchez said.
The Wildcats didn’t find as much success in their first drive. Penalties set Woodside back for a long 3rd and 10, which resulted in a sack, forcing Woodside to punt their first drive away.
“[We needed to fix] our blocking scheme,” Sanchez said. “The person getting blocked was sometimes unblocked and it would screw up our play.”
However, the Trojans got into some penalty trouble, and combined with a sack from junior Carlos Latu, the ball went back into Woodside possession.
“‘[Some of my favorite moments were] when the defense was balling out,” junior fullback Yurem Tezen said. “Getting really good hits, and making the quarterback feel very bad.”
Woodside received the punt on the 27 and got the run game going. Combining a nice run from senior running back Evan Usher with a penalty against the Trojans, the Wildcats were able to get into the red zone. Usher kept the drive alive on 4th and 2 with a run, then followed that up with another run spotting the ball inside the 1-yard line. Usher then bounced outside, finding the endzone. The extra point was good, making it 7–6 Woodside.
The remaining time in the second quarter stayed mostly uneventful, until a Woodside fumble gave the Trojans an opportunity for a field goal, taking back the lead. This brought the score up to 9-7 for Milpitas.
“[Next time] we’re going to adapt,” Tezen said. “It’s just fundamentals and just learning how to play better.”
The Trojans struck one more time before half, kicking in a field goal to make the score 12-7.
“We didn’t really know what they were going to pull out on us,” Tezen said. “It was just playing random football.”
With seven minutes left in the third, Usher broke a tackle to unleash a huge 70-yard touchdown run. Woodside was then able to do a 2-point conversion, bringing the score to 15-12 for the Wildcats.
The Wildcats and the Trojans ended up trading punts for the remaining time in the third. But a quarterback draw from Milpitas to open the fourth saw the Trojans raise the score to 19-15 in their favor.
The Wildcats didn’t give up, however. Running backs Daniel Torres and Usher helped fuel a Woodside drive that ended in a Torres touchdown run, putting the Wildcats back into the lead with a score of 22-19.
“We responded in the second half,” Sanchez said. “We embraced the challenge and we did it.”
The Trojans got the ball back with two minutes left in the game, but Woodside’s defense was able to hold on, finishing the job with an incomplete pass on the 4th down. With the ball back in Woodside’s possession, the Wildcats secured the game in a well deserved win to wrap up the regular season.
“There’s always ups and downs,” Sanchez said. “But you just have to look through the downs and then make them work out.”
