With the Tri-County League title up for grabs the Dos Pueblos High football team suffered a 14-0 loss to visiting Fillmore on Friday night at Scott O’Leary Stadium.
The Flashes outlasted Dos Pueblos in a defensive struggle that was defined in the trenches by punching in one touchdown in each half while the Chargers failed to convert their scoring opportunities into touchdowns.
“In a game like this that’s what you expect, back-and-forth, we knew it was going to be like that all night,” said Dos Pueblos coach AJ Pateras. “They just made a couple more plays than we did and we didn’t execute when we needed to in some of those critical series.”
Fillmore threatened to run away with the game early as the Flashes marched 91 yards on 12-plays to take a 7-0 lead.
A 31-yard run by Micah Harm on 3rd-and-8 from the 34-yard line was the key play on the drive setting up Fillmore with 1st-and-goal from the three-yard line. After a holding call pushed the Flashes back, quarterback Nate Perez connected with Saul Fraga-Sandoval on a fade for a 12-yard touchdown with 5:32 remaining in the first quarter.
The Chargers muffed a FIllmore pooch kick on the ensuing kickoff giving the Flashes possession at the 34-yard line. However, the Dos Pueblos defense stood tall as Perez was stopped for a three-yard gain on 4th-and-goal from the nine-yard line.
The two defenses dominated the remainder of the first half. However,the Chargers caught a break when FIllmore muffed a punt late in the second quarter that was recovered by Dos Pueblos defensive back Patrick Sullivan.
Dos Pueblos took over at the FIllmore 18-yard line and quarterback Seth Orozco put them in scoring position with a 13-yard run down to the five-yard line. But FIllmore held firm for four consecutive plays, and completed the goalline stand by stuffing a quarterback sneak on 4th-and-goal from the one-yard line with just under three minutes remaining in the first half.
“When we have a chance to get inside the one-yard line we have to score that,” Pateras said. “I think weathering the storm in the first half was really important. I thought it showed a lot of grit from the guys.”
The Flashes extended their lead early in the fourth quarter as Micah Harm came through in the clutch on 4th-and-goal from the three-yard line, taking a direct snap out of a wildcat formation and powering into the end zone. The touchdown gave the Flashes a 14-0 lead with 11:15 remaining in the fourth quarter.
Harm crossed the goal line by inches on the play and showed incredible desire to score.
“We’ve had a lot of games with high scoring offensive production. Tonight was a gritty one. We were struggling on our side of the ball,” said Fillmore coach Charlie Weis. “We always preach family football, we need to be able to come together in all three phases of the game. Special teams and defense really kept us in this tonight against a phenomenal team. Dos Pueblos is very well coached.”
With the victory Fillmore clinched the Tri-County League title. It is the third league title in the last five seasons for the Flashes.
Royal 21, San Marcos 14
Isaac Murrillo returned the opening kickoff of the game 98 yards for a touchdown, but Royal scored the go ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter to secure the victory.
Del Sol 21, Carpinteria 10
The Warriors dropped to 1-8 on the season with the loss and fell out of contention for an automatic playoff berth out of the Citrus Coast League.
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