THE SPORTS DESK
Prep Roundup: Black–Hawks prevail for a playoff berth
BY NATHAN WARTERS
Brooke Point fell behind early against host Mountain View on Friday night, and the prospect of missing the playoffs hit Black–Hawks senior wide receiver Aaron Sanders like a middle linebacker in the open field.
So Sanders decided to do something about it.
Sanders caught three touchdown receptions and returned an interception 59 yards for a score to help Brooke Point erase a 10-point first-quarter deficit in a 41-32 win over the Wildcats.
The victory clinched the sixth, and last, Northwest Region, Division 5 playoff spot for the Black-Hawks, who started the season 0-4 but have won four straight.
Brooke Point advances to play Massaponax next week in the region quarterfinals.
“We were 0–4 and not a very good football team. I can’t explain it. I don’t want to explain it. I just want to keep going,” an emotional Brooke Point coach Jeff Berry said as he choked back tears.
The Wildcats are playoff-bound as well. They will play at GW–Danville next week in the region quarterfinals.
“We’ve got to play better,” Mountain View head coach Lou Sorrentino said. “That’s the bottom line.”
The Black–Hawks (5–5, 5–3) dug themselves an early hole against the Wildcats (6–4, 4–4), but they stormed back thanks to the big plays of Sanders, who was also celebrating his 18th birthday.
“I came into this game thinking I don’t want to leave my senior year like this. I want to go to week 11, move on, go to the playoffs,” Sanders said.
“It just hit me. I knew I had to do something and that we needed a push.”
Sanders scored three second-quarter touchdowns, including the go-ahead 7-yard scoring pass from quarterback Alex Cox with 13 seconds to go before the half.
Brooke Point opened the second half with a 15-play drive and capped it with Sanders’ 5-yard touchdown reception from Cox to take a 35–24 lead.
“Usually it’s [Tyus White] and me scoring the touchdowns. I didn’t have any today. [Sanders] stole them all,” said Brooke Point tailback Johnathan Horsley, who had 125 rushing yards on 35 carries.
Wildcats wide receiver DaeSean Hamilton’s 25-yard touchdown catch and 2-point conversion in the fourth quarter cut the deficit to 35-32, but the Black-Hawks came back with another scoring drive late that they capped with Cox’s second 1-yard touchdown run.
Brooke Point scored 14 points off of three Mountain View turnovers in the first half.
Wildcats wide receiver Quinton Gray lost a fumble on a reverse run on the game’s first play. The Black-Hawks recovered and scored a short time later on Cox’s first touchdown run.
Sorrentino said his team was ready to play against the emotionally-charged Black-Hawks. They just made too many mistakes.
“We made so many mistakes, mental and physical and coaching, all the way around. You can make excuses, but we’ve just got to play better,” Sorrentino said.
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Brooke Point 7 21 7 6 — 41
Mountain View 17 7 0 8 — 32
First Quarter
BP-A. Cox 1-yard run (M. Moreno kick)
MV-D. Hamilton 27-yard pass from E. Burress (D. Fraser kick)
MV-D. Fraser 20-yard field goal
MV-R. Garcia-Castro 73-yard fumble recovery (D. Fraser kick)
Second Quarter
BP-A. Sanders 42-yard pass from A. Cox (M. Moreno kick)
MV-G. Collins 4-yard run (D. Fraser kick)
BP-A. Sanders 59-yard interception (M. Moreno kick)
BP-A. Sanders 7-yard pass from A. Cox (M. Moreno kick)
Third Quarter
BP-A. Sanders 5-yard pass from A. Cox (M. Moreno kick)
Fourth Quarter
MV-D. Hamilton 25-yard pass from E. Burress (D. Hamilton from E. Burress)
BP-A. Cox 1-yard run (kick failed)
TEAM STATISTICS
BP MV
First downs19 15
Rushing yardage43-111 29-87
Passing yardage170 184
Passes14-26-1 16-30-2
Punts-Avg.6-27.7 4-35.3
Fumbles-lost3-1 3-2
Penalties-yards12-125 9-70
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing: Mountain View—Gordon Collins 14-62, TD; Kirron Sleydin 4-21; Elijah Burress 6-4; Greg Hoffman 3-3; DaeSean Hamilton 1-(-1); Quinton Gray 1-(-2). Brooke Point—Johnathan Horsley 35-125; Tyus White 1-29; Aaron Sanders 1-(-6); Team 3-(-16); Alex Cox 3-(-21), 2TD.
Passing: Mountain View—Elijah Burress 16-28-2 184, 2TD; DaeSean Hamilton 0-1-0 0; Gordon Collins 0-1-0 0. Brooke Point—Alex Cox 14-26-1 170, 3TD.
Receiving: Mountain View—DaeSean Hamilton 8-111, 2TD; Andre Bernhard 3-26; Quinton Gray 3-26; Gordon Collins 2-21. Brooke Point—Aaron Sanders 7-125, 3TD; Tyus White 4-32; Kai Russ 2-12; Brandon Griffin 1-1.
Nathan Warters: 540/374-5442
nwarters@freelancestar.com
