Unbeaten Eastlake faced a near monumental upset from the Spartans of Chula Vista Friday night at Stan Canaris Stadium. In front of a boisterous home crowd and playing on senior night, the Titans trailed Chula Vista 14-0 heading into halftime.
Led by stand-out running back Tony Jefferson, the Titans of Eastlake High (8-0-2; 5-0) scored 28 unanswered second-half points to defeat the Chula Vista Spartans (6-4: 4-1) 28-14. With the victory, Eastlake secured the Mesa League Championship and a trip to the CIF playoffs.
Entering the match-up, the Eastlake Titans sat firmly atop the Mesa League standings. The team seemed poised to cruise to an easy victory against Chula Vista in the final game of the regular season, but the Spartans had different plans.
The Chula Vista defense dominated Eastlake in the first half, holding Jefferson to 33 yards on ten carries. Without an effective run-game, something Eastlake has used successfully early and often, quarterback D’angelo Barksdale was forced to try to make plays downfield.
On consecutive drives early in the half, Barksdale threw two interceptions that were returned for touchdowns. Chula Vista DB Tyrone Richardson zigged and zagged his way 100 yards for the score while corner Aaron Taylor took his 80 yards to the house. The Eastlake offense would continue to sputter and entered halftime trailing 14-0.
Something happened in that locker room, because a different Eastlake team reemerged. Fueled by passionate speeches from some of the seniors, the team awoke from its scoring slumber. On their first offensive possession, the Titans pounded the ball downfield and Jefferson capped off the drive with a 19 yard touchdown scamper. This would prove to be the turning point in the game.
Hungry to get their seniors a final regular season victory, the Eastlake defense immediately got the ball back for their offense. An interception by safety Zach Bannon resulted in a 10 play, 93-yard scoring-drive that ended with Jefferson scoring his second TD of the night.
“In the locker room, it was basically just getting our offensive line pumped up,” said Jefferson referring to the halftime break. “We basically just had to get a pump up speech, not even by the coach but by the players, and we came out here and executed.”
Jefferson wasn’t about to let his team lose on senior night
“Losing this game would have just crushed me,” he said post-game. “I knew we were going to come out here and win. It’s a great way to end my senior year regular season.”
Jefferson finished the game with 28 carries for 176 yards and three TDs. Even with only 33 yards in the first half, head coach John McFadden never lost faith in his stellar senior running back.
“He’s an incredible kid,” said the head coach of Jefferson. “Every time I think he drives me crazy with the spinning and stuff, he hurdles over three guys and I just say ‘wow.’ He’s just an incredible kid.”
Besides Jefferson, several seniors made the most of their final regular season game. RB Daniel Diaz was a constant outside running threat; used in combination with Jefferson, Diaz totaled 76 yards on 11 carries.
After throwing two early interceptions, QB D’angelo Barksdale rebounded with a second-half TD pass that put the Titans in the lead. And the offensive line led by senior Gabe Gomez handled the Spartans defensive line in the second half, helping Jefferson and Diaz total 189 yards after halftime.
Jefferson knows that his team faces challenges in the CIF playoffs, but is confident that his team will overcome them.
“We have a lot of work to do; we have to fix a lot of things,” he said. “We can’t tell what the future holds, but I can see us in a stadium.”
Eastlake will most likely have earned a first-round bye in the CIF championships. They will rest up and prepare for which ever team they draw in two weeks time. Behind the dangerous running attack of Tony Jefferson, the Titans of Eastlake will be a formidable CIF opponent.
–Courtesy 619Sports.net
