Foothill sets tone early, knocks off Basic 29-21
Foothill didn’t get into the end zone on its first possession Friday night.
But with Issac Oliva rushing for 73 yards on the drive, that first possession was crucial to taking control.
Oliva ended up scoring two touchdowns, and the Falcons knocked off host Basic 29-21.
“We thought we could run (on) them, and we wanted to wear them down a little bit, and I think that drive kind of set the tone,” Foothill coach Marty Redmond said. “Even though we only got a field goal out of it, I think we set the tone as to what we wanted to do. And then we were able to throw the ball a bit the next drive and then mix it up in the second half.”
Foothill never trailed and seemed to be in control throughout, yet never could shake Basic.
“We knew that they’re always tough,” Redmond said. “It’s always a close game when we play. I thought we controlled most of the game. I wish we would have pulled away further than we did, but we had a few touchdowns called back, so it was a good win for our team.”
Oliva, who rushed for 117 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries, made what might have been the biggest play of the game on a pass.
He caught a short toss from quarterback Koy Riggin, then streaked down the left sideline for a 60-yard touchdown that put Foothill (6-1, 3-1 Southeast League) ahead 22-7 with 3:11 left in the third quarter.
“The O-line picked up all the blitzes, Koy saw me and I caught it and it was gone,” Oliva said.
Basic pulled within 22-14 on a 3-yard TD run by Dorian McAllister with 5:05 to play. That score was set up by a 46-yard pass from Paul Myro to Zack Grismanauskas.
But Foothill ground out an eight-play drive to eat up most of the remaining time. The key play came on fourth-and-4 from the Basic 26 with the Falcons needing a first down. Riggin hit Dylan Mueller with a pass near the 20, but Mueller wasn’t satisfied with the first down. Instead, he slipped two tackles for a 26-yard touchdown that made the score 29-14 with 1:42 remaining.
Basic (3-5, 2-2) mounted another scoring drive, this one capped by a 14-yard TD pass from Myro to McAllister, to make the score 29-21 with 50 seconds left.
But Foothill recovered the onside kick and ran out the clock.
The win sets up a home showdown against Green Valley next week with the league’s No. 2 playoff seed on the line.
“This is an important win for us,” Redmond said. “We want to be in this game next week playing for the two seed in the playoffs. It’s really important to us to try to get a home playoff game.”
Riggin completed 14 of 25 passes for 206 yards and three TDs.
Grismanauskas had six catches for 103 yards and completed a 51-yard scoring pass to Steven Justice for Basic.
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Contact prep sports editor Damon Seiters at dseiters@reviewjournal.com or 702-380-4587. Follow @DamonSeiters on Twitter.
