2-point stop saves Silverado

Friday, Oct. 29, 2004 | 10:28 a.m.

With Green Valley High threatening to cap a thrilling late comeback against Silverado on Thursday night, Skyhawks linebacker Benjamin Jacobs took the air out of the home crowd by stopping a two-point conversion.

A Gators touchdown pulled them to within 14-12 of Silverado with 2:41 remaining, but Jacobs stuffed running back Jairus Howard at the 1 to keep Green Valley from tying the game.

"It was a game winner," Silverado coach Doug Thornhill said of Jacobs' heroics. "That was huge. They had been getting yards on that speed option all night, and we finally got to it. A great play."

Stretching after the game in an end zone, Jacobs downplayed his tackle.

"I was just thinking that we had to stop them, that's all I was thinking," he said. "We came out prepared and adjusted to it."

The Silverado defense, however, had to make one final stand after its offense failed to get a first down on its ensuing possession.

Green Valley had the ball on its own 43 with 14 seconds left, but sophomore quarterback Kalin Beal threw back-to-back incomplete bombs. With one tick left, Beal completed a desperation pass that only got the Gators halfway to the goal line.

"We knew they were a good team. We had to expose a few things, and we didn't," said Green Valley coach Greg Murphy. "It took us a while to get going."

Silverado (7-2, 4-1 in the Southeast Division) plays host to Eldorado in the first round of the playoffs next week, while the Gators (6-4, 2-3) travel to Las Vegas.

The Skyhawks scored the game's first points on a 57-yard drive to open the second half, which junior quarterback Tyler McNeace finished with a 23-yard touchdown run around the left side for a 6-0 lead.

Later in the third quarter, Silverado's defense forced and recovered its only fumble of the game when sophomore lineman Travis Chandler smacked Howard at the Green Valley line-of-scrimmage and Skyhawks junior linebacker Kyle Rath pounced on the ball.

Five plays later, senior fullback Jesse Benites squired through the right side of his line for a 2-yard touchdown run, and McNeace completed a two-point conversion pass to Randy Liles to make it 14-0.

McNeace totaled 66 yards on his 16 carries, and Benites finished with 64 yards on 13 rushes.

In the fourth quarter, Murphy relieved starting quarterback Robert Reynolds with Beal, but the Gators' defense set up Green Valley's first points by recovering a Silverado fumble at the Skyhawks' 15.

Howard, who ran 19 times for 108 yards, finished the four-play drive with a 7-yard touchdown run to cut Silverado's lead to 14-6 with 3:50 left. Then kicker Conan Molinaro successfully booted an onside kick.

The Gators started at the Hawks' 45, and a minute later trailed 14-12 when Beal hit junior tight end Gabe Garcia with a 20-yard touchdown pass in the back of the end zone.

That's when Jacobs made the play of the game, by stopping Howard, for Silverado. But turning it over four times, on three fumbles and an interception, isn't exactly how Thornhill wanted to prep for the playoffs.

"We had a tough time taking care of the ball," he said. "You can't do that in the playoffs or you'll lose. We're going to have to want it, and we'll have to come out with a better mental attitude."