Wilcox edges St. Ignatius to reach CCS Division II championship match

SANTA CLARA – Central Coast Section Division II football semifinal between St. Ignatius and host Wilcox went into the final quarter with the outcome in doubt.

Who should make a game-winning game?

Enter Andrew Palacios.

The junior runback saw a small opening in the left side as he took a pass behind the scrimmage line. He frolic through the hole and sprinted 74 yards to the decisive touchdown in a 20-13 Wilcox victory.

“My line blocked amazingly right there, it was open and I just eased,” Palacios said of the game, which took place with 8 minutes and 17 seconds left. “I was just trying to go as fast as possible to get the touchdown.”

“The back jumped in a different way for the first time and (Palacios) made a really good cut,” Wilcox coach Paul Rosa said. “Our center (Angelo De Los Santos) made a great block and cut off the other back who jumped (Palacios).

“He’s one of the hardest workers I’ve ever had as a coach. He’s in the weight room all the time,” Rosa said of Palacios.

Wilcox (8-4), No. 3 seed, will play No. 4 seed Menlo in the Division II Championship next week. Menlo defeated No. 1 seed San Benito 45-35 Friday night.

The Chargers had a hard time finding any consistency offensively Friday night as they made four turnovers (including three lost fumbles). But the Wilcox defense closed St. Ignatius chased after the 4:32 mark in the second quarter and limited the Wildcats (5-7) to 26 yards in total in the game.

“Our defense increased sharply,” Rosa said. “I was proud of our guys, how they just hung in there and kept playing, even when bad things happened.”

At the start of the game, it looked like Wilcox could build up a big lead. After a three-and-out of St. Ignatius (who included a sack from Wilcox’s Aliejah Diaz), Chargers’ Luther Glenn took his team’s first offensive game 42 yards for a touchdown. Glenn and Palacios both topped 100 yards during the game (Palacios had a game-high 109, Glenn had a straight 100).

But Wilcox committed his first turnover when a bouncing punt hit a Chargers player in the back, and St. Ignatius regained the ball. The Wildcats’ passing attack then increased, and the new drive ended with a 21-yard touchdown pass from Mac McAndrews to Shane Crispen. But a high snap on the PAT resulted in a tackle behind the line, and Wilcox held on to a 7-6 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Wilcox took a 13-6 lead in the second quarter as quarterback Armand Johnson fooled the defense with a nice false pass before even taking the ball 36 yards into the goal zone. But the PAT kick hit the right crossbar.

St. Ignatius did not take long to equalize. McAndrews sent a long pass down the left sideline to Crispen, who dragged it in and sprinted for a 78-yard touchdown with 4:32 left in the half.

In the third quarter, the teams exchanged interceptions on the first two runs of the half, after which St. Ignatius’ Conor Lund regained a fumble on Wilcox’s next possession. A couple of three-and-outs followed in the pointless period.

But after a St. Ignatius ’26-yard field goal attempt was wide for the left early in the fourth quarter, breaking Palacios’ touchdown draw. Another couple of three-and-outs followed before St. Ignatius began his last move in the game.

McAndrews helped produce the first two downs for the Wildcats, one with the arm and one with the legs, as St. Ignatius approached midfield with less than two minutes left of the match. But Wilcox’s Jeramiah Lewis produced a huge sack with 1:49 left, forcing a third and long situation. Two imperfections sealed the fate of the Wildcats.

Crispen caught four passes for a game-high 111 yards in the game. McAndrews completed 15 of his 24 passing attempts in 233 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions.