Del Campo erases 20-point deficit in win over Sacramento High

With 1:17 remaining in a Saturday night football game between Del Campo and Sacramento in Fair Oaks, the Dragons had an opportunity to win the game. They only trailed by two.

Sac High quarterback Naaman Branyan marched his team 65 yards to the Del Campo 25-yard line with 10 seconds left. Branyan dropped back looking for the end zone but was sacked by lineman Jesse Espinoza as time expired. That sealed Del Campo’s 38-36 comeback win over the Dragons (2-2).

Del Campo’s coach was proud — and relieved. Orlando Ortiz graduated from the school in 2010 and started his coaching career as an assistant for the Cougars in 2017. He said becoming head man was a dream opportunity.

“This is everything I have always wanted,” he said. “It’s awesome to come back here. Now I’m the head coach, it feels even better. There is a lot of stress that goes on during the week, but this is what I come out here and coach for.”

He added later, “The biggest thing I told my guys is I knew they were going to get the ball back and we would have to finish the game on defense. And we did. That’s what I wanted to see. I wanted to see us win when we shut guys down on defense.”

Both sides of the Del Campo (2-0) line stepped up their play in the second half after trailing 30-16 at the break. Jesse Espinoza, Raymond Reed and Blue Poleta each had sacks. The offensive line of Ben Chavez, Kenny Dentley, Espinoza, Calvin Geddes and Wesley Montgomery helped Del Campo finish with more than 450 yards of offense.

Malik Williams led the charge with 116 yards rushing and three touchdowns. Quarterback Terrance Ballard made big plays in the second half to rally his team. That included touchdown passes of 16 and 21 yards to Logan Farssell, the latter was the game-winner with 8:43 left. Forssell had eight catches for 107 yards.

“He was pretty good (today),” Ortiz said of his running back. “One of our running backs had to get a cast. Williams ran the ball really good. He’s one of those ground and pound type dudes. Our running backs ran hard and our offensive line blocked hard. The offensive line is definitely getting lunch on me.”

He added, “Any win you have to celebrate, especially if it’s a dogfight (like today). We had a tough week of practice. It was tough (because of the COVID situation last week). Sac High is a young team that has a ton of talent. We have a ton of talent at Del Campo, too.”

Branyan on his team’s next possession connected with receiver Lamont Burrell on a 51-yard touchdown. The failed 2-point conversion would be costly. Burrell finished with seven catches for 191 yards and three touchdowns. Branyan finished with 231 yards passing and four touchdowns.

Del Campo will face El Camino on Friday. Sac High will host Linden on Saturday.

This story was originally published April 4, 2021 at 6:46 AM.