Ponderosa’s fourth-quarter finish stuns D’backs

Boardway, Hobbs, Bruin defense come up big

EL DORADO — Ben Boardway's 89-yard touchdown dash broke a fourth quarter tie and Ponderosa added another late touchdown to upend host Union Mine 21-7 in local preseason football action.

Friday's intra-county matchup was a defensive-oriented, penalty-laden affair with both teams punting a combined 14 times. With 7:29 left to play, Boardway changed that with a run around the right end and up the sideline to turn what began as bad field position into the go-ahead score.

"The edge was open, the receivers kept their blocks, the fullback led the way and I was untouched," Boardway said. "The line did a great job of blocking the whole game. Our goal was to get a win tonight, play strong for our fans and keep our streak going."

The Ponderosa faithful let loose once Jacob Bist's quarterback keeper with 9 seconds left cemented the team's second straight victory. Emotion carried the Shingle Springs squad Friday as the cumulation of up and down practices and a funeral for a teammate's brother poured out of the Bruins for four quarters.

"We were confident of our game plan. We knew if our kids made their blocks and hit them in the mouth that we'd be OK," Ponderosa coach Jason Tenner said. "Everyone took turns making plays defensively. We challenged the defense this week and they played lights-out 'D.' I'm proud of all the kids — they were fired up, coachable and responded with their backs to the wall."

Never more so than in the second half when the Bruins (2-2) held the Diamondbacks (1-2) to zero first downs. Union Mine punted on five straight series and held the ball for just 5:50 of the half. Ponderosa, led by Jeff Camilli, Kaden Mosbacher and Darren Brundage, swarmed to the ball to wrap up D'back Sean Tow after the Union Mine rusher had rambled for 136 in the first half.

"Nobody was doing their job. We weren't playing as a team — it was like we played as individuals," D'back Chris Vasquez said. "They're (Bruins) a good team and they came out hard and hit us, and we didn't respond. We should have done better."

Ponderosa also kept the pressure on Union Mine's Graham Bennett, giving the senior quarterback little if any time to throw. Bennett completed just 3-of-11 passes for 19 yards and was sacked twice by Bruin Jorden Marinelli on key third-down plays in the fourth quarter.

"When you come out and play like that ... this is what happens. Our line got theirs tonight. We just didn't play. It's hard to tell whether it was what they did (to us) or whether we self-destructed — probably a little of both," D'back coach Dave Johnson said. "There are no moral victories but to be in it as badly as we played gives me hope that maybe we can figure it out — and quickly — because we start league next week."

Union Mine's play did appear out-of-sync. Several snaps went to running backs instead of Bennett. Delay of game penalties and Bennett's having to constantly direct his players to their correct spots plagued the D'back offense.

Boardway's game-winning run capped a solid Ponderosa effort on the ground. Bruin Chris Hobbs ran for 214 yards, 137 in the first half, while Boardway had 114 on just five touches.

Ponderosa opened the scoring on Brett Jonutz' 1-yard run with 3:24 left in the first quarter followed by Conner Swartz' point after kick. Union Mine evened the score in the second when Shane O'Leary's interception led to his own 1-yard run four plays later.

Though the D'back offense stalled in the second half, the Union Mine defense, led by Vasquez and several clutch sacks from Greg Close, did its best against a Bruin team bent on avenging last year's 31-7 loss.

Both Ponderosa and the D'backs travel next week. The Bruins are at Rocklin while Union Mine visits Cosumnes Oaks.