Antelope digs into bag of tricks, then pounds the ball in to take wild win over Whitney
It was a mostly quiet night by Curron Borders’ standards.
If you’d been told the Whitney High football team would hold the Sac-Joaquin Section’s leading rusher to just 54 yards while producing six defensive stops on fourth down, you might have pegged the Wildcats to move on in the Division II playoffs.
But the Titans reached into their bag of tricks Friday.
While Borders typically hogs all the Antelope headlines – rightfully so, with a section-leading 220 rushing yards per game and 31 touchdowns entering Friday – it was the Titans’ supporting cast who bridged the gap until Borders could make the biggest play of the season.
Quarterback Jasiah Bateman completed 9 of 15 passes for 246 yards and two touchdowns, both to Da’Marion Williams, as No. 4 Antelope defeated No. 5 Whitney 20-14 in the closing moments of Friday’s section quarterfinal.
“I’ve been trying to say this since the beginning,” Borders said. “We ain’t just a one-trick pony.”
With the score tied at 14 in the final minute, the Titans called for a trick play known as “cash” to secure a thrilling victory. Bateman tossed a flat-route pass near the Antelope sideline to Jordyn Saechao, who then heaved the ball downfield to a leaping Borders, who used all of his 5-foot, 7-inch frame to haul in a 36-yard catch at the 4-yard line with 11 seconds left.
Antelope initially lined up Bateman for a 21-yard field goal try, but a Whitney timeout gave the Titans a chance to discuss other options.
“Coach looked me in the eye and I’m like, ‘Don’t kick that field goal,’ ” Borders said. “We can run this in. My team’s gonna block for me, and I’m gonna get in that end zone.”
Behind a jumbo-package offensive line of Josh Gunnarson, Culby Perkins, Angelo Gay, Mark Korolev and 6-foot-7 bookends Josh Moore and Khalid Francis, Borders punched in the go-ahead touchdown with seven seconds left.
“We were ready to spike it if we needed to because of the down-and-distance situation, but we were fortunate,” Antelope head coach Mike Byerly said. “We hadn’t run that against them yet the whole game and it’s really difficult to stop the first time it comes at you. It’s just one of those types of plays you’ve gotta really be prepared for and maybe see it a few times and make adjustments to it. So it worked in our favor.”
Whitney and Antelope battled each other and a thick blanket of fog at field level Friday. It was difficult to see anything from one side of the field to the other. Whitney’s white uniforms seemed to disappear into the mist on long plays.
“There were flags called on the opposite side of the field and I didn’t know,” Byerly said. “Suddenly, I’m being asked by the referee, ‘Do you want to take the penalty?’ And I’m like, ‘There’s a penalty?’ ”
Williams didn’t seem to have any trouble seeing the ball through the fog. With 195 receiving yards, he nearly matched his entire season’s total (198 yards entering Friday) on five catches. Williams’ two scoring plays were from 77 and 76 yards.
“He’s always been that type of player,” Borders said of Williams. “He just needs the opportunity. I’m glad people are seeing it now.”
Borders eclipsed the 2,000-yard plateau in just his 10th game this season. If Antelope (10-0) can keep advancing, he’s approaching the school’s single-season rushing record of 2,223 in 2016, held by former Titan great Elijah Dotson, a recent fixture in the Sacramento State backfield.
Antelope also had big defensive plays from Christian Martinez, Amir Pharms, Cameron Cole and Trevon Watson, among others.
The Titans’ win ends Whitney’s season at 6-6 overall after a 3-3 showing in the Sierra Foothill League. Roman Floyd had a 6-yard quarterback keeper and Takai Takahashi had a 22-yard scoring run to account for the Wildcats’ scoring. Whitney had several defensive contributors, including Anthony Parker, Ian Don, Phoenix Rose and SFL Defensive Player of the Year Brandon Wong.
The entire group of Whitney players, coaches, family and supporters stuck around the field, stunned and distraught from their final loss of the season.
“The season wasn’t supposed to end this way,” Whitney head coach Zac McNally said. “I don’t think I’m gonna leave this field tonight.”
Antelope will now travel to Modesto to face top-seeded Central Catholic for the D-II semifinals this Friday. This season marks the fifth league crown and the third time the Titans have entered the postseason unbeaten. Antelope has better than a 70% win percentage since launching its football program in 2008. But the one thing eluding the Titans is a section title.
“We have the pieces there,” said Byerly. “This Division II field is so good. Any of the 12 teams can beat any of the other teams. There isn’t a huge difference in the higher seeds and the lower seeds. If we can continue to grow, we haven’t had our best game yet.”