By james art COLTON – In a battle of undefeated Skyline League teams, the Carter Lions and Colton Yellowjackets countered score after score until a final defensive stand saw Colton emerge victorious 49-41 and claim at least a share of the league title.
Tied midway through the third quarter, Colton (7-1, 4-0) broke the tie with a pair of touchdowns three minutes apart with sophomore quarterback Coa Regalado leading his team down the field on both drives and throwing for his third touchdown, a 21- pass to freshman Jonathan Quiroz to give the Yellow Jackets a 35-21 lead.
In an immediate response, senior running back Jordan McKinney returned a kickoff 88 yards to bring Carter (5-3, 3-1) back within a score. McKinney would finish the affair with 388 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns, including 298 rushing yards and three scores on 20 attempts.
“We’ve been preparing (Jordan) for three years to do something special,” Carter head coach Felipe Salas said. “Every time he touched the ball tonight, he was pretty elusive, so we’re going to rely on him going forward.”
Regalado would again answer and find the end zone on the first play of the fourth quarter to make it a two-score game. He would finish the game completing 24 of 40 pass attempts for 319 yards and four touchdowns, along with 62 rushing yards on six attempts.
“(Koa) rarely makes the wrong plays,” Colton head coach Ray Rodriguez said. “He’s doing a phenomenal job running this offense, even as a sophomore.”
“I knew it was going to be a battle against Koa,” Salas said. “I knew he was going to make things happen on the ground and throwing the ball. I think he does a good job overall for a young quarterback and he was the difference.”
Carter would not go away quietly, countering their next offensive drive with a 3-yard touchdown run by senior quarterback Ryder Carson.
Picking an onside kick that they recovered, Carter answered again with a Carson goal.
Missing the extra point that put them down by one with 5:06 left in the game, they went for another onside kick attempt that went awry with Quiroz catching the attempt and finding an open field in front of him for a 50 kick return yards again for a touchdown, making it an eight-point game.
On their final possession, an offensive holding penalty on Carter led to a 42-yard touchdown run that would have given them a chance to tie it with a two-point conversion with 2:58 left in the fourth. Instead, three consecutive incompletions led to a turnover and victory for Colton.
The win secured at least a share of the Skyline League title for Colton. They can claim a lone league win with a win in their next game against Notre Dame, where their focus will be on defense.
“We have to eliminate the big plays,” Rodriguez said. “We made some shots defensively — sent some shots and tried some things that bit us in the butt, but we just have to eliminate the big plays.”
“I’m just proud of everybody,” Regalado said. “Nobody thought we’d be here and we just kept proving everybody wrong, but the job’s not done.”
Originally Posted: