Granite Construction Lights Up the Field for High School Football Team

Monterrey Herald, Special to the Herald

WATSONVILLE - This was going to be the grand finish to a grand night.

The Monte Vista Christian football team, thanks to portable towers loaned by Granite Construction, was playing its first home game under the Friday night lights.

The score remained tied for more than two quarters, and some players and coaches thought the game was going to overtime.

No it wasn't. Pre-league contests in California don't go extra periods. A back-and-forth battle with all the makings of a grand home opener for the Mustangs and their guest Stevenson ended in a 7-7 tie.

"Let the kids play football," said upset MVC coach Andre Dobson, who used to coach football in Washington where that rule doesn't exist. "Make it exciting."

And despite the lack of scoring -- and the fact that the Mustangs' first game under the lights in front of a rowdy three-quarters-full house ended without a winner -- it was exciting.

The Pirates Moritz Von Limburg, a German exchange student who has been playing football for only a month, missed a 21-yard field goal with seven seconds remaining in the game.

As time expired, MVC quarterback Josh Blanton hefted a 36-yard pass to Matt Griffin to put the ball on Stevenson's 25-yard line.

Mustangs defensive coordinator Monte Van, who previously coached in Texas, was unaware of the pre-season tie rule. He was ready for overtime but yanked off his headset in disgust when he was told by a fellow coach there would be none.

All this could have been avoided if either team had capitalized on its opportunities. MVC started inside Pirates' territory five times but finished just once. Stevenson, meanwhile, turned the ball over three times, twice inside Mustangs' territory.

MVC defensive back Matt Griffin was responsible for two of those turnovers, with interceptions in the third and fourth quarters.

"It would have been nice to go overtime, of course we want to finish," said Blanton. "But it's preseason and we should have finished before overtime."

MVC didn't have far to go for its first TD. The Pirates fumbled their punt snap in the first quarter, giving the Mustangs the ball just 30 yards from the goal line. Seven plays later, Greg Leon ran in from the 2-yard line.

The Pirates tied the game with 54 seconds left in the first half. They capped a five-play, 92-yard drive with a 15-yard pass from quarterback Cooper Kehoe to Logan Allen.

"We just couldn't get it done," said Stevenson coach Germano Diniz. "They kind of had our number and made plays when they had to make plays."

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