Wildcats win a Sunbelt League showdown, now 6-2 overall

Stephen Gallegos scores the winning touchdown with 43.4 seconds remaining. (Photo by Rick Rowell)

By Doug Spoon, Editor

It was the kind of game that builds confidence – maybe even a championship type confidence.

The Paloma Valley High Wildcats gave visiting Vista del Lago all the Ravens could handle and fought back from deficits twice in the last six minutes to score a 37-30 victory Thursday night. With quarterback Brady Nelson passing for 228 yards and 3 touchdowns and Stephen Gallegos running for 114 yards and 2 scores, the Wildcats improved to 6-2 overall and sit atop the Sunbelt League standings at 2-0.

The vastly improved Wildcats have proven themselves over and over this season, but never in such dramatic fashion as this game.

“We knew it would be a really close game, so we knew we had to execute,” said Nelson. “We saw we had better athletes than them and we felt we could do what we wanted, so we opened up the game with our passing and the running game came with it.”

The Wildcats fell behind 3-0 and were just starting to move the ball on their first possession when a lost fumble gave Vista del Lago the ball on the Wildcats 42-yard line. The Ravens scored a touchdown on a 1-yard run by KJ Wright for a 10-0 lead. But Paloma Valley put its first scoring drive together to cut the deficit to 10-7 in the second quarter.

Paloma tied the score at 10-10 on a 36-yard field goal on a line drive that just cleared the crossbar. The Wildcats defense then forced a Vista del Lago punt that led to a 68-yard scoring drive capped by a 14-yard touchdown pass from Nelson to Noah Howard. The Wildcats led 16-10 at the half.

One of Paloma Valley’s most impressive drives came at the start of the third quarter, when they drove 74 yards to score on a spectacular 19-yard TD pass from Nelson to Arthur Clemons, who pulled the ball in with one hand for a leaping catch in the end zone. Vista del Lago fought back, however, with quarterback Jaylen Patterson leading the Ravens 60 yards to score on a 9-yard TD pass, cutting Paloma’s lead to 23-17.

The fun was just beginning at that point.

Nelson was intercepted on the Wildcats’ next drive, leading to a Vista del Lago scoring drive capped by a 9-yard Patterson run for a touchdown. The PAT kick gave the Ravens a 24-23 lead with 9:21 left in the game.

Mixing in passes by Nelson and runs by Gallegos, the Wildcats put together a six-play, 52 yard scoring drive capped by an 11-yard pass from Nelson to KJ Misini. A two-point conversion attempt failed, but the Wildcats had a 29-24 lead with 6:39 remaining.

The visitors weren’t done yet, however. About four minutes later, after forcing a Paloma Valley punt and making a 29-yard return, the Ravens scored on their first play on an 11-yard pass from Patterson to Kuestin Davis. The PAT failed, but the Ravens had a 30-29 lead with 2:45 left.

Undaunted, Paloma marched from its own 36-yard line to the Ravens 4, from where Gallegos went in standing for his second touchdown. A two-point conversion pass to Howard gave the Wildcats a 37-30 advantage.

Paloma Valley put the capper on a big night when a squib kickoff was recovered by Aaron Young Jr. with just half a minute left.

“We’re pretty pumped going into the bye week,” Nelson said. “We can get some rest and take care of some of the bumps and bruises we’ve got, then be ready in two weeks for Hemet.”

A Paloma Valley defender stops Ravens quarterback Jaylen Patterson short of the end zone. (Photo by Rick Rowell)

 Wildcats quarterback Brady Nelson throws on the run for big yardage. (Photo by Rick Rowell)

 Stephen Gallegos was tough for Vista del Lago defenders to bring down. (Photo by Rick Rowell)