BUENA PARK – Friday night’s regular-season finale between Sonora and host Buena Park resembled a track meet more than a football game as the Raiders and Coyotes battled it out for second place in the Freeway League.
Elijah Bynum scored four touchdowns and Zach Taylor scored three touchdowns and threw a touchdown pass as Buena Park outlasted Sonora, 56-51, but the Coyotes had to survive several anxious moments in the closing seconds.
Having trailed by 19 points in the third quarter, Sonora (8-2, 3-2) cut the lead to 56-51 on Cole McDonald’s 37-yard touchdown pass to Landon Williams with 34 seconds left in the game.
Buena Park (8-2, 4-1) recovered the ensuing onside kick and all the Coyotes had to do was take a knee a few times to run out the clock. However, on the second play following a Raiders timeout, the Coyotes fumbled the snap and Sonora recovered the ball at the Buena Park 47-yard line with 10 seconds left.
McDonald then completed a short pass to Williams, who lateraled the ball to a Raiders running back who in turn lateraled to a second running back. However, as the Sonora runner was tackled, he fumbled the ball and Buena Park recovered it at the 30-yard line.
This time, the Coyotes snapped the ball cleanly and ran out the clock.
Jacob Fimbres rushed for 307 yards and three touchdowns on 37 carries and also caught eight passes. McDonald rushed for 100 yards, scored two touchdowns and threw three touchdown passes for Sonora. Fimbres has rushed for 2,021 yards and scored 30 TDs this season.
Bynum (162 yards rushing) and Taylor (107 yards rushing, 192 passing) each scored two TDs in the first half as Buena Park built a 35-23 lead.
Taylor’s fourth-quarter TD gave the Coyotes a 49-30 lead, but Fimbres scored twice to trim the lead to 49-44 with 3:10 left. Bynum scored Buena Park’s final TD on a 33-yard run with 1:47 left.