Sun Valley rallies to edge Oxford in closing seconds
ASTON >> For the Sun Valley football squad Friday evening, the Vanguards’ 15-14 win was an electrifying last-gasp rally.
For Oxford, the defeat meant they were stung for the second week in a row by a winning play in the final seconds.
It was Senior Night at Sun Valley, and the winning play in the waning seconds was produced by a couple of Vanguard seniors. With the Vanguards trailing 14-7 and just 13 seconds left on the clock. Sun Valley had a 4th-and-7 at the Oxford 26 yard line. Vanguard senior quarterback Stephen Eskridge lofted a pass down the right sideline into the end zone, toward Sun Valley running back Todd Harper. Harper, who was well-covered, caught the pass in perfect stride for a touchdown.
Then, Sun Valley opted to go for a two-point conversion. Eskridge took the center snap, faded back, saw an opening in the middle of the line and ran into the end zone for a 15-14 lead.
“A couple of plays before [the touchdown], I think I injured my foot,” said Eskridge. “But I knew in my head that I have to keep going, I have to lead this team. Nothing’s stopping me, I’m going to keep going.
“We were talking [before the TD play] about hitting Todd in the end zone with a pass. Todd made a perfect catch – I give all props to him, and to my O-line for their blocking.”
Sun Valley head coach Ernie Ellis said, “We had Todd line up behind our tackle and run a wheel route. Steve [Eskridge] dropped a really great ball, and Todd made a great play on it.”
When asked about the decision to go for the two-point conversion, Ellis laughed and replied, “Fortune favors the bold.”
Eskridge said, “The coaches made a great call [on the conversion play]. I just stepped back, found an open lane, and went all in (smiles).”
The win improved the Vanguards’ record to 5-5. They came into the contest ranked 14th in the PIAA District 1 5A power rankings (the top 16 go to Districts in the 5A class), so Sun Valley will be headed to the district playoffs.
“Winning this game meant so much to me, because last year we had to go through so much adversity,” said Eskridge. “But that’s what makes these [winning] times feel so much better.”
Ellis said, “Tonight punched our ticket [to Districts]. It’s another week for our seniors to play another game.”
Oxford (3-7), who had come into the contest ranked 16th in District 1 5A, battled Sun Valley to a scoreless draw in the first half.
The Vanguards took a 7-0 lead in the third quarter on a 19-yard TD run by Harper with 8:21 left in the period. The touchdown capped a four-play, 55-yard drive consisting of four running plays, three of them by Noah Griffin. Led by Griffin, the Vanguards’ running attack picked up more than 200 yards Friday.
“Noah Griffin is amazing, Todd Harper rose to the occasion and our offensive line did an amazing job tonight – Rob [Travis] Powell at guard is an animal,” said Ellis.
Trailing 7-0, Oxford bounced back quickly, with two long touchdown passes by senior quarterback Dustin Long in the space of about four minutes – the first to Ryan Evans (38 yards) and the second to Corey Dantonio (80 yards).
On the 38-yard TD to Evans, the Oxford receiver leaped high alongside a Sun Valley defender near the goal line, and Evans came down with the ball for a touchdown to tie the score at 7-7 with 6:54 to go in the third quarter.
The TD toss to Dantonio was a short pass on the right side to the Oxford receiver, and the senior broke free down the right sideline to go all the way for an 80-yard touchdown.
Early in the fourth quarter, a Sun Valley fumble on a punt return gave the Hornets the ball on the Vanguards’ 37 yard line. But two plays later, Sun Valley junior safety Matt Jackson intercepted an Oxford pass to keep the hosts’ hopes alive.
“After our kids fell behind (14-7), they just kept clawing, they showed character,” said Ellis. “I think our whole defensive line played pretty solid, and made adjustments late in the game that helped us – Oxford had been killing us earlier with that draw. Ron Weaver and Anthony Laird had good games, and Alex Williams did an amazing job – he is a great utility guy for us on defense, he can play line, he can drop into coverage, he can do a lot of different things. And [cornerback] Jaden Dorsey had a big interception for us in the first half.”
With a little more than four minutes left, Oxford, leading 14-7, threatened to ice the game when Long hit Dantonio across the middle for a 36-yard completion down to the Sun Valley 4 yard line. A Sun Valley penalty then advanced the ball to the Vanguards’ 2. But a couple of subsequent penalties took the ball all the way back to the Sun Valley 30 yard line, and the Hornets did not score.
Sun Valley then took possession on its own 28-yard line with two minutes left in the game. Eskridge ran for 14 yards and a first down, then two plays later hit Griffin with a 16-yard pass completion.
An 11-yard run by Eskridge put the ball on the Oxford 29 yard line with 1:02 left, but a run for no gain, an incomplete pass and a 5-yard penalty give the Vanguards a 3rd-and-15 at the Oxford 34. Eskridge hit Griffin for an 8-yard pass completion to set up the 4th-and-7 at the Oxford 26, and the subsequent touchdown.
For Oxford, this loss hurt, coming on the heels of a last-second loss to West Chester East
Oxford head coach Michael Means said, “Losing the way we have the last two weeks is about as heartbreaking and as bad as it gets. Last week, we lost on a 65-yard trick play with no time left; and then in this game, we’re ahead 14-7 with three minutes left with first-and-goal on their 2 yard line and then a couple of penalties put us in a terrible situation. And then they score on fourth down, it’s [tough].
“There’s not much I can say to my kids – usually I have the words of what they need at the time that they need it, but I don’t have the words for this group, to put the words on a loss like that [right now], especially dealing with it two weeks in a row. I’ve got seniors who are completely heartbroken and devastated right now. It’s been absolutely brutal. We had a chance the last two weeks to control our destiny [for the District playoffs] and now we don’t.”
