Gators win wild one at Nova

Julian with his dual-threat prowess has been a game-changer all season. But not only were the Gators able to contain the versatile 6-3, 220-pound senior — or at least contain him enough — they countered with a game-changer of their own in sophomore quarterback Raymond Price III.

In a tremendous back-and-forth battle, Price ultimately rose to the occasion to lead the Gators to a thrilling 40-28 victory Friday night at Gray Field. The sophomore — who at halftime had a rushing total of minus-30 yards — finished with 186 total yards, including 95 yards rushing and two game-changing touchdowns.

“We kind of got into the mindset last week — never give up,” Price said. “At halftime we just talked about what didn’t work for us last week to prepare for the second half tonight.”

Last week, SHP (3-1 PAL Bay, 8-1 overall) joined the ranks of every other Peninsula Athletic League team to face first-place Menlo-Atherton in enduring a humbling loss to the powerhouse Bears. So, Friday, Price finished like he had something to prove.

With the game deadlocked 21-21 with under a minute to go in the third quarter, Price took a snap from midfield, rolled out right and took off running downfield. He eluded three defenders just to reach the line of scrimmage, then 10 yards later he shook two tackles to get up the right sideline. He just kept going, needing to outrun two more defenders near the end zone, juked to weave through them, and hit pay dirt for the go-ahead score.

As for what Price saw as he danced across the line of scrimmage and looked downfield?

“I just see end zone at that point,” Price said.

Despite keeping Julian relatively in check, the senior was still a handful for the SHP defense. He was 12-of-18 passing for 243 yards and rushed 23 times for 75 yards.

Stopping the Tigers’ offense was like chopping down a tree for the Gators, though, and as the seconds of the fourth quarter continued to tick away, Terra Nova toppled over — with bad snaps leading to an array of fumbles, three for turnovers in total.

“We simply did not deserve to win that football game,” Terra Nova head coach Tim Adams said.

On the heels of Price’s mad dash for the end zone, the Tigers (2-2, 7-2) were forced to punt with 8:44 remaining in regulation. Then, Price did it again.

SHP marched downfield, using nine plays and over four minutes, though the ninth play of the drive was a fourth-and-4 from the Terra Nova 37.

The Gators lined up to go for it, and as they did Adams, from the Terra Nova sideline, was yelling repeatedly at his defense to watch the bootleg. Price said he didn’t hear Adams, but evidently neither did the Tigers, as SHP’s elusive quarterback ran a called reverse boot around the left side and went untouched to the end zone.

“Both our defensive ends crashed,” Adams said, “and they’d been running it on us all night.”

Price again had to outrun two defenders downfield, but this time veered left toward the pylon to race for the goal line.

“I was getting a little tired at the end,” Price said. “I knew I couldn’t outrun the guy on the right, so I went left and just made it to the end zone.”

With 4:25 remaining, though, Terra Nova still had plenty of life and answered back in a hurry. Taking over at its own 20, Julian immediately aired out a 62-yard pass to junior Chase McKnight. Two plays later, senior running back Aslan Carvalho — who proved a spark with SHP keying on Julian all night, rushing eight times for 62 yards — flew to the house for a 16-yard score to cut the lead to 33-28.

The Tigers defense then came up with a clutch stop, forcing a three-and-out inside the SHP 25.

After a Gators punt, though, the fumble bug got the best of Terra Nova.

Facing third-and-5 from its own 43, Terra Nova launched a snap over Julian’s head in the shotgun formation, causing an 18-yard loss. The Tigers turned over the ball on downs after a pass fell shy of the first-down marker.

SHP went three-and-out again, giving Terra Nova the ball back with 55 seconds remaining. But Terra Nova fumbled the chance away two plays later when Julian dropped back and got pinned in his own end zone, and trying to fight his way out fumbled with Gators defensive tackle Joey Dahlkemper recovering in the end zone for a touchdown.

“I’m very concerned with going into the Half Moon bay game and going into the first round of the playoffs with what we put on the field tonight,” Adams said.

Adams also credited SHP for being a quality football team. And justly so.

The Gators’ defensive line was grilling Julian and Terra Nova all night long, and the secondary came up with coverage in the clutch.

“We’ve never seen a quarterback like that who can run the ball,” SHP safety Wilson Weisel said. “We knew he could throw the ball over the top, and we had to get underneath because we knew he could do both.”

Weisel, who started the year on the injured list, was making just his second start of the season.

“I think we had breakdowns, but otherwise we were pretty solid,” Weisel said.

With the win, SHP claims sole possession of second place in the PAL Bay Division with one week to play. Terra Nova falls to third place.

“It was a good game,” SHP head coach Mark Grieb said. “It was fun. Our team played well against a good opponent.”