Prep football: Tam leans on ground game to outlast Redwood

Tam senior quarterback Reed Edwards was itching to throw the ball on the Red-tailed Hawks’ game-clinching fourth-quarter drive.

Edwards kept looking to his coach on the sideline for the okay to put the ball in the air.

His coach kept shaking his head no.

And for good reason.

Tam (2-5, 2-1 Redwood Empire Valley), relying solely on rushing plays, held the ball for nearly all of the last eight minutes and David Keane booted a 26-yard field goal with 45 seconds remaining to seal a 19-10 victory against arch-rival Redwood on a hazy Thursday in Larkspur.

“When we got the ball back in the fourth quarter we wanted to run some time off the clock,” Edwards said. “We started the drive running the ball, expecting to air it out eventually. But we never had to.”

That’s because a pair of Tam running backs, behind a strong offensive line, dominated play in the final quarter.

“(The offensive line) just took the game over,” Edwards said. “I didn’t have to throw it once. It was all our running backs and offensive line doing all the work.”

Tam coach Anthony Mejia said he told his offense to keep it simple as it headed onto the field for what turned out to be the last time.

“Reed kept looking at me to see if he could pass,” Mejia said. “I told him no. This is working. Let’s just keep doing it.”

The Red-tailed Hawks, starting from their own 20-yard line, called 13 consecutive running plays and ran out most of the clock before settling for the field goal and a two-possession lead.

“In the first half, they held us in check in the running game,” said junior running back Miles Kelsey, who ignited the ground-and-pound flurry with five consecutive carries for 38 yards. “I don’t think they expected us to run like that on the last drive. I owe all my runs to the big guys on the offensive line.”

One of the big guys, senior lineman Hayden Perkins, agreed with his running back’s assessment of the drive.

“We didn’t run the ball well in the first half,” Perkins said. “But like coach always says, it’s not so much how you start as long as you finish strong.”

Midway through Tam’s final drive, senior Ethan Koo took over ball-toting duties. Koo carried five more times for 37 more yards.

“The last two games we played teams with five down linemen,” said Tam senior center Jack Purchase, who is playing his first season of varsity football after serious injuries to both knees kept him sidelined for three seasons. “But Redwood played four down linemen. We thought maybe we could push the ball on them. On the last drive, the running game was working, so we stuck with it. The running backs held onto the ball and we got the yards we needed to finish it off.”

Tam started the scoring in the first quarter on a safety when Redwood quarterback Kody Vasquez was trapped in the end zone by a strong John Wellborn pass rush. Vasquez, while in the grasp, threw the ball away and was called for intentional grounding, an automatic safety if it occurs in the end zone.

Following the ensuing kickoff back to Tam, the Hawks needed less than a minute to score the game’s first touchdown.

Edwards scampered 15 yards on a quarterback keeper to start the scoring drive. On the next play, Edwards hooked up with receiver Timo Ural for 30 yards down the right sideline. Edwards took touchdown honors with a one-yard run.

The Hawks added a two-point conversion when Edwards found Octavien Green on a fade pattern in the back corner of the end zone. Tam led 10-0.

Redwood came back to life quickly when Ashlin Quach returned the ensuing kickoff 94 yards for a touchdown.

Late in the first half, a Ronan Ralston interception set up Redwood’s only offensive points – a William Suko 37-yard field goal, which tied the score at 10-10.

But for the second consecutive game, the Giants (3-4, 1-2 Valley) – who were shutout by league leader Casa Grande last week – failed to score an offensive touchdown.

“We never capitalized on the momentum after the big kickoff return for a touchdown,” Redwood coach Allen Talley said. “(Tam) was truthfully better than us today. This one stings big time. We’re just playing inconsistently. But we still have time to fix it.”

Tam took the lead for good at the end of the first half on a well-executed halfback-option play. Tyler Weisberg took a pitch from Edwards, stopped and lofted a nice pass into the end zone. Ural ran underneath it and hauled it in for a 23-yard touchdown.

Tam 19, Redwood 10

Redwood Empire Valley

Tam  10  6  0  3  –  19

Redwood  7  3  0  0  –  10

SCORING SUMMARY

T – Safety

T – Edwards 1 run (Green pass from Edwards)

R – Quach 94 kick return (Suko kick)

R – Suko 37 FG

T – Ural 23 pass from Weisberg (kick blocked)

T – Keane 26 FG

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING – Tam, Green 2-8, Koo 10-46, Edwards 13-36, Kramlich 1-(minus-2), Kelsey 8-40, Weisberg 1-6. Totals: 35-134. Red, Cunneen 18-72, K. Vasquez 1-(minus-15), Harp 2-15. Totals 21-72.

PASSING – Tam, Edwards 5-14-2 125, Weisberg 1-1-0 23. Totals: 6-15-2 148. Red, K. Vasquez 13-23-2 98. T. Vasquez 0-2-0 0. Totals: 13-25-2 100.

RECEIVING – Tam, Weisberg 2-14, Christopher 1-14, Ural 3-120. Totals 6-148. Red, Vaughn 3-22, Quach 3-28, Ralston 2-30, R. Vasquez 1-4, McGrath 1-9, Cunneen 2-(minus-7), Harp 1-14. Totals 13-98.

Records – Tam 2-5, 2-1; Redwood 3-4. 1-2.