On the first play from scrimmage in Point Loma High\u2019s Nov. 27 CIF quarterfinal playoff game, Pointers quarterback Keegan Fitzgerald rolled to his left before throwing over the heads of Mt. Miguel\u2019s rushers to Davis Callejon. Outrunning defenders as he sprinted diagonally across the Mesa College turf, Callejon turned the play into a 61-yard touchdown in the first seconds of action. On the game\u2019s final play \u2014 with 18 seconds remaining and the Matador quarterback attempting to stop the clock by spiking the ball \u2014 Pointer Jordan Sparkman fell on a fumble, ending Mt. Miguel\u2019s desperate fight to tie the Division III struggle, preserving a 42-35 victory for the Dogs.?In between, the two teams staged a classic football game, one that might long be remembered by players and fans from both schools.?\u00a0Sparkman later experienced a defender\u2019s dream when, following a big hit by teammate Callejon, he corralled the loose ball and returned the pilfered pigskin 24 yards, giving his team a 14-0 second-quarter lead. \u00a0But the game was no cakewalk. The Pointers saw leads of 14-0 and 28-21 evaporate. The Matadors, breaking several long runs and passes, fought back to take leads of 21-14 and 35-28 before the Dogs put the final bite on their determined opponent with two late touchdowns. \u00a0“Playoff football \u2014 there\u2019s really nothing like it,” said Pointer head coach Mike Hastings. \u00a0The game offered drama in huge doses. Consider: \u00a0In the third quarter, the Matadors took a 21-14 lead on a 14-yard pass with 7:45 remaining. \u00a0Following the Matadors\u2019 kickoff, the Pointers tied the game on their first play after Leslie Rogers broke free on a 68-yard run with 7:29 left. \u00a0On the first play after the Pointers\u2019 kickoff, a Mt. Miguel fumble was again scooped up by Sparkman and the 6-foot-6-inch senior ran the ball back to the Matador one-yard line. From there, Fitzgerald followed his offensive line into the end zone on a keeper with 6:35 left. \u00a0So, in just 1:10 of play, the Pointers turned a 21-14 disadvantage into a 28-21 lead. \u00a0The Matadors, however, scored late in the third and early in the fourth quarter. Yet the Dogs weren\u2019t finished either. \u00a0A 55-yard sweep by Morris Mathews shook the Matadors and, with 8:08 left in the final frame, Rogers sprinted to the end zone from 15 yards out to tie the score at 35. \u00a0The same two runners combined on the game-winner, with Mathews covering 10 yards before Rogers exploded for a game-winning 56-yard dash, providing a 42-35 lead with 5:10 left to play. \u00a0“We practiced hard, and hard work pays off in the end,” said Rogers later. \u00a0Pointer defenders then took care of business, getting the ball back with 3:10 to play. However, the Pointers were forced to punt, giving the Matadors 1:44 for one desperate last chance. \u00a0“Tonight, we answered the bell and came back fighting,” Hastings said. “And we\u2019re going to continue to fight and find a way to win these games.” Tomorrow night, Dec. 4, the 8-3 Pointers take their five-game winning streak against Steele Canyon, which tied Mt. Miguel for second-place (3-1-1) in the Grossmont South League and brings an 8-3-1 overall record to the campus of Mt. Carmel High. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. The winner advances to the Dec. 11 CIF finals at Qualcomm Stadium.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
On the first play from scrimmage in Point Loma High\u2019s Nov. 27 CIF quarterfinal playoff game, Pointers quarterback Keegan Fitzgerald rolled to his left before throwing over the heads of Mt. Miguel\u2019s rushers to Davis Callejon. Outrunning defenders as he sprinted diagonally across the Mesa College turf, Callejon turned the play into a 61-yard touchdown […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":257274,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11561","_seopress_titles_title":"Thriller puts PLHS a step away from CIF finals at Qualcomm","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11551,11561,11550],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-257273","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-peninsula-beacon","category-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257273","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=257273"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/257273\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/257274"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=257273"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=257273"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=257273"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}