SUN VALLEY – St. Margaret’s has marched through its 2014 schedule largely untested – 10 of the Tartans’ 11 wins this season had come by 21 points or more heading into Friday night’s CIF-SS East Valley Division second-round playoff game with St. Genevieve of Panorama at Francis Poly High.
The top-seeded Tartans got all they could handle from the upset-minded Valiants, but escaped with a 36-34 victory by denying a potential game-tying, two-point conversion attempt with just over two minutes left in the game.
“We played as a team,” St. Margaret’s coach Steve Barbee said. “We answered the call. We had some adversity and we dealt with it and never gave up. We came out ahead and it was a great team victory.”
The Tartans were in control for most of the first half and opened a 23-0 lead midway through the second quarter. Running back Oscar Gomez scored a pair of first-half touchdowns en route to another impressive stat line – the senior finished with 189 yards on 31 carries and scored three touchdowns.
Receiver/running back Nick Shanks also scored in the first half and led the team with 58 yards on three catches. The duo combined for 259 rushing yards to pace the St. Margaret’s offense.
“We have a couple of great running backs and they really proved their worth tonight,” Barbee said. “They took a lot of hits, and their legs never stopped. They earned every single bit of this victory.”
The Valiants began their comeback and cut the lead to 23-14 midway through the third quarter on a touchdown run by quarterback Jesse Camacho.
The Tartans answered with an impressive drive into Valiant territory and were in position to make it a three-possession game when a fumble was scooped up by Camacho and returned 80 yards for a Valiant touchdown that cut the lead to 23-21.
The teams traded scores on their next two possessions, then St. Margaret’s scored again with 5:06 left but missed the point-after attempt to keep it a one-possession game, 36-28. The Valiants answered with a 2-yard run by Matthew Cecil to cut the lead to two points, but the Tartans’ defense stiffened on the conversion attempt to preserve the win and advance to the semifinals.
St. Margaret’s will play host to Silver Valley next Friday.
