Julien Grady tackles Tristan Jackson in the endzone during the Laguna Creek Cardinals league matchup against the Cosumnes Oaks Wolfpack at Cosumnes River College Stadium on Friday Oct. 4, 2024.

 

ELK GROVE, CA (MPG) - It’s fourth down and six for the Cosumnes Oaks Wolfpack at the Laguna Creek Cardinals' 14-yard line as the Cardinals hold on to their 35-34 lead in the dying minutes of this league matchup.

It was a muggy night at the Cardinal's home field at Cosumnes River College as the Cardinals looked to hold on to the slim lead and improve to a Delta League record of 2-1, while the Wolfpack looked to win their first league game.

The Cardinals were up at one point 21-0, until the Wolfpack came storming back with their defense coming up with stops and turnovers from the Cardinals, and the offense using the crowd and momentum to their advantage.

The Wolfpack’s quarterback, Joshua Garcia, dropped back and saw Tristan Jackson in the corner of the endzone and decided to let it fly.

If caught, the Wolfpack would lead for the first time in this game with all the momentum on their side and would come back from a 28-12 halftime deficit.

If not, the Wolfpack would wait another week to try and win their first league game of the season as they come short on a thriller comeback.

Before this scenario could be set up, the Cardinals and the Wolfpack started with a clean slate as the Cardinals received the opening kick.

The Cardinals went quietly three and out, but so did the Wolfpack.

The unexpected happened when a high snap to their punter caused a fumble, which Donny Cartmill of the Cardinals recovered to put his team on the Wolfpack's one-yard line.

The Cardinals senior running back, Armon Thorntona, who is logging his first few games of the season due to injury ran into the endzone to eventually go up 7-0.

“He’s extremely special and I’m bummed out that this is only his third game of the year. He makes us go. This is a guy that our kids look up to since we have a young group, so they want to move the sticks,” said Cardinals’ head coach Ryan Nill.

Thorntona went on to rush for 195 yards on 31 carries which included three touchdowns.

Early in the game, the Cardinals went up 21-0 after a 53-yard punt return for a touchdown from Saxton Rogers Jr. which looked like his team was going to run away with this game.

Part of the reason the Cardinals were able to go up 21-0 before the end of the first quarter was thanks to another senior in Mitchell Labrado, who’s also logging his first few games after an injury in the first game of their season.

“It is great to have a guy that makes things happen. Mitchell’s a guy where if it breaks down, he can make plays with his feet and he can make acrobatic throws if he needs to,” Nill said.

Labrado had 71 passing yards as he completed eight of 14 passing attempts which resulted in a touchdown to Dereus Counts right before half to go up 28-6.

The Wolfpack would go three and out on their first two drives but were not going down quietly though, as they would go into halftime 28-12 as the extra-point was blocked on the first score then failed a two-point conversion on the following score.

This is where the interim coach, as coach Billings is away dealing with health issues, Chris Lewis talked to the Wolfpack to come together as a team.

“Whether it was special teams, defense or offense we asked them to come together and play as a team and they came out and did that,” Lewis said.

Even while being down, Lewis said that he knew the team was going to be in the game going into the second half.

This was reflected in their play as they stormed back after two receiving touchdowns to Tristan Jackson and Kayleb Gerard with a two-point conversion failed on the first score of the half but was converted on the second score of the half to close the deficit at 35-26.

All the momentum seemed to be on the Wolfpack’s side, and this was confirmed when on the next drive after Gerard’s touchdown catch, Elijah Lewis would pick off a pass from the Cardinals’ quarterback Labrado.

“That’s when everything started to change, the crowd started to go crazy,” coach Lewis said about his son’s interception.

This led to another Jackson reception for a touchdown, followed up by a similar pass in the corner of the endzone for a two-point conversion to put the Wolfpack down by one point at 35-34.

The Cardinals seemed to have everything under control as they stormed downfield the following drive with Thorntona and seemed to have the Wolfpack on the ropes as we approached the dying minutes of the game and put to bed the comeback.

It seemed like only a matter of time when Thorntona got the first down on the Wolfpack’s 42-yard line but suddenly a snap was fumbled by Labrado on the following play and was recovered by the Wolfpack that sent the visiting sidelines and bleachers into a frenzy.

“The fumble is the play that changed everything again,” Lewis said. “I was like ‘Yes, we’re about to go make a touchdown,’” Lewis said.

Given the momentum of the Wolfpack and the heads of the Cardinals players going down in disbelief of the fumble, now it seemed like only a matter of time before the Wolfpack completed the comeback for their first league win.

This looked certain after Jackson ran from his 42-yard line to the Cardinals' 18-yard line to set up first and 10 with most of the Wolfpack fans not in their seats but on the railing that separates them from the playing field.

That frenzy was halted the following play when the Cardinals Kaden Harris got the sack to set up second and 16, which fired up his team's sidelines, but they remained reserved as the Wolfpack were still within 24 yards of completing this comeback.

Eventually, the Wolfpack set up the fourth and six, not before the Cardinals used all of their timeouts during this sequence, that was make or break while down just one point to win the game.

The Wolfpack sideline was yelling out towards the referees confirming that the Cardinals used their final timeout as if looking ahead after they scored that they’ll not be able to call timeout to stop the clock with two minutes left in the game.

The ball is in flight towards Jackson in the corner of the endzone and he looks to be open as Cosumnes River College Stadium sits silent to the point you could hear a pin drop and everyone sitting still.

Suddenly, Julien Grady came into the frame to tackle Jackson with his arms up over his head to receive Garcia’s pass.

The referees waved their arms, no good, as the ball went sailing past the endzone and Jackson went down due to Grady’s tackle.

“I feel like we had it in our grasp, it was right there for us,” Lewis said. “This is probably the best game we’ve played all season.”

For the Cardinals, Nill did not think it was a possibility for an attempt at a comeback by the Wolfpack but recognized the athletes from his opposition.

“CO’s got athletes. I felt like our guys almost respected their athletic ability too much. So we just let them back in the game,” Nill said.

The Cardinals need to play better team football, Nill said, as he was vocal throughout the game while the Wolfpack were getting back into the game.

“We make little decisions or decisions that are sometimes selfish,” Nill said about some unsportsmanlike conduct penalties. “Then we gave CO a shortfield and two scores in the first half came after both of those penalties. We don’t do that, what happens? Maybe they don’t score.”

The Wolfpack came up just short of their first league win and the Cardinals took the 35-34 win to move to 2-1 in league while the Wolfpack fell to 0-2 in league.