Jacksonville Fl- With just over a minute to play in the 4th quarter, Englewood trailed Menendez 7-6 at home on a rain soaked muddy field. They had struggled to move the ball on offense all night, and seemed to shoot themselves in the foot more times than not due to penalties. Yet in this moment, they saw a chance to win and led by quarterback senior Sean Wilks they seized it. Wilks would scamble to his left and reverse field to his right and loft a pass to the back of the end zone where senior wide receiver Emauri Hampton caught the ball for the go ahead score.
Wilks would then do it himself on the 2-point conversion, following his lead blockers into the endzone for the score. The blast up the middle was a blow to Menendez and Wilks, but it gave Englewood a 14-7 lead with less than a minute to play in the game.
With just seceonds left in the game, Menendez would put together a drive of desperation, as they had to figure out a way to move the ball without their starting quarterback, and back up quarterback. The answer was junior quarterback Jevon Welch. Welch would complete a 30-yard pass to wide receiver Julian Quintero as seconds ticked off the clock.
Welch would then scamble for another first down with just 15-seconds left in the game. On the very next play, Welch would sustain an injury and be forced to leave the game with less than 10-seconds left, making way for Menendez’s fourth quarterback of the night, sophomore Brooks Cornelison.
Cornelison would attempt to find a receiver but throw it away with just 3-seconds left in the game. Welch would re-enter the contest for what was thought to be the last play of the game, but when a face mask penalty was called on Englewood, it left one untimed down for Menendez to attempt to tie or go ahead.
Welch would roll out again to avoid pressure and lof the ball to the endzone. The ball would sail over two defender’s hands and off the finger tips of two Menendez players incomplete, giving Englwood a 14-7 victory at home.
It was a hard fought, tough nosed game from the start as Menendez struggled to even arrive at Englewood as they had transportation problems. The game’s initial start was scheduled for 6:30pm, however the game would start shortly after 6:45pm.
A back and forth contest saw lots of hard hits, and lots of punts in the first half. The biggest play would be an interception by Jalen Scarver, a 6’foot 4 safety for Englewood. Scarver and his brother 6 foot 4 J’Sean Scarver were both instrumental on defense as J’Sean regstered several hard hits and made it extremely hard for Menendez to run.
Menendez defense was incredibly stout in the game as linebacker Benjamin Johnson, Jake Orr, and safety Noah Lawless made lots of plays to pitch the first half shutout for the Falcons
Defensive backs Jayy Watson and Tomas Jones made several plays including two interceptions in the game. They are two play-making corners that can take the ball away from offenses, and they certainly showed that tonight.
In the second half, Menendez quarterback Cason Blanco would not return due to an injury, and was replaced by senior Bryce Petellat. Petellat would later be replaced by Welch late in the fourth. A rough situation that seemed to get even worse for Menendez was when their top defensive back, Tomas Jones was flagged for unsportsman-like conduct and had to sit down for several plays.
Englewood immedietely went to work on the mismatch, as Wilks found his big 6 foot 4 receiver Kevon Roulhac for a 20-yard touchdown reception. Roulhac would catch another key pass in the game, which set up the game winning drive in the end by Wilks.
On that drive, Wilks would use his legs to scrambe for 5-yards and a first down on 4th and 2. It’s clutch plays like that, which has Englewood sitting at 2-0 overall on the season.
Menendez versus Englewood Photo Gallery
Said Coach Zach Harbison after the game, ” we lost a lot of key players, our best corner, and our three running-backs we were out, but J’Sean Scarver stepped up for us, the Scarver brothers dominated on defense, Julio Valcarcel stepped up for us, and we just made some plays at the end”.
Englewood (2-0) will travel to Ed White (1-1) next week in a Gateway Conference matchup. While Menendez will attempt to recover from a tough physical contest to welcome Pine Ridge (0-2).
