PITTSBURG – With the ball resting just outside the goal line, the Goddard Lions needed less than a yard to win the Class 5A state championship in overtime over Mill Valley.
The play before, Goddard quarterback Blake Sullivan’s progress was ruled to have been stopped at the 1-yard line before he and the pile he was a part of fell into the end zone. The Jaguars then were flagged for encroachment moving the ball inside the 1.
After a timeout, Goddard senior running back Kody Gonzalez took the handoff and leaped for the end zone, but as he tried to extend the ball across the goal line it struck the helmet of Mill Valley linebacker Dylan Smith and was jarred loose. The ball landed in the end zone and was quickly covered by Jaguar safety Jack Eber for a touchback.
Mill Valley, somehow, had escaped to force a second overtime after the Jaguars missed a field goal on their first overtime possession.
Goddard took first possession in the second overtime and scored on a perfect 15-yard strike from Sullivan to Jordan Cooke in the corner of the end zone. Gentry Cole’s PAT bounced off the left upright, but the Jaguars were flagged for running into the kicker. Cole’s second attempt pushed wide right leaving the Lions lead at 34-28.
Mill Valley’s second overtime possession lasted one play as junior quarterback Brody Flaming hit classmate Evan Rice wide open across the middle of the end zone for a 10-yard touchdown pass. After a timeout, sophomore kicker Jack Matchette split the uprights with the winning extra point sending the Jaguar sideline into celebration.
Mill Valley survived 35-34 in double overtime to win their second consecutive Class 5A title.
“I’m just extremely proud of them,” Jaguar coach Joel Applebee said. “They are a resilient group. They have great discipline, great work ethic, and these seniors led us the whole way…couldn’t be more proud of them.”
The Jaguar defense forced four Goddard turnovers, none bigger than Smith’s hit on Gonzalez at the goal line.
“Defensively, we’ve been so strong throughout the playoffs,” Applebee continued. “We’ve just kept getting better and better…the defense has had that ball-hawk mentality, and they kept going after it and it showed on the goal line right there.”
Smith and fellow senior Joel Donn each had 16 tackles to lead the Jaguar defense.
Flaming passed for 200 yards and tossed five touchdowns passes to lead the Mill Valley offense. He connected with Rice eight times for 78 yards and three scores, while Ben Hartman caught five passes for 98 yards and two touchdowns.
Flaming also led the Jaguar ground game with 122 yards on 27 attempts.
“I’m very proud of everyone on this team,” Flaming said. “We fought through adversity that we knew we were going to have…that stop on the 1-yard line was crazy-important. That’s what gave us the energy and enthusiasm to get that score on our last play.”
Mill Valley led by eight points on three separate occasions on Saturday. The Jaguars took a 21-13 lead in the third quarter on a perfectly thrown 17-yard touchdown pass from Flaming to Hartman.
Less than a minute later, Gonzalez raced 61 yards for a touchdown to pull Goddard back within 21-20.
A Mill Valley punt pinned Goddard next to its own end zone, and after a three-and-out, a Lions’ punt against the win set up Mill Valley at the Goddard 37. The Jaguars drove to the 9-yard line before an unsuccessful fake field goal attempt.
On the ensuing possession, Sullivan broke a 93-yard touchdown run along the Mill Valley sideline that was negated by a penalty.
Goddard was again forced to punt into the wind late in the third quarter, and again the Jaguars were set up deep in Lion territory. This time, Flaming hit Rice for a 21-yard touchdown pass and a 28-20 lead.
Sullivan then engineered a 17-play, 95-yard drive that took 6:42 off the clock. He scored on a 1-yard run with 4:10 remaining, and then added the two-point conversion to tie the game at 28 where it would remain until the second overtime.
Goddard rushed for 349 yards in the game led by Gonzalez’s 188 yards and two scores on 25 carries. Sullivan added 150 rushing yards and two scores on 31 attempts, and completed 8 of 17 passes for 79 yards, a touchdown, and two interceptions.
“I’m incredibly proud of how they played, the effort they put in, and they didn’t quit,” Goddard coach Scott Vang said of his team. “We had a chance to win the game and just didn’t make the play we needed to make.”
The Lions took just 71 seconds to score on its opening possession of the game as Gonzalez raced 37 yards for a touchdown. The Lions attempted a two-point attempt and tried a throwback to Garrett Morrow on a tackle-eligible play, but Morrow was stopped short of the goal line. Other than the second overtime, it would be the Lions’ only lead of the game.
Mill Valley answered quickly with Flaming hitting Hartman for a 19-yard touchdown to lead 7-6 less than two-and-a-half minutes into the game.
The Jaguars extended their lead to 14-6 on a 15-yard pass from Flaming to Rice.
Mill Valley overcame multiple issues with their punting unit in the first half. Flaming punted the ball low off one of his lineman setting up Goddard at the Jaguar 24-yard line. The Lions quickly drove the 24 yards to pay dirt when Sullivan scored from four yards out to cut the lead to 14-13.
The Jaguars also nearly had a punt blocked and another punt snap sailed over Flaming’s head, but he was able get off a punt with his non-dominant, right foot to salvage another big field position loss.
“We work on it all the time,” Applebee said. “We put a lot of emphasis in our special teams, every week. And our kids know that and they believe in it, and we had a lot of blunders today, but in the end they made the play.”
Mill Valley 14-0-7-7—0-7 | 35
Goddard 6-7-7-8—0-6 | 34
Scoring Summary:
First Quarter:
GHS – Kody Gonzalez 37-yard run (pass failed) – 10:49
MV – Ben Hartman 19-yard pass from Brody Flaming (Jack Matchette kick) – 9:32
MV – Evan Rice 15-yard pass from Flaming (Matchette kick) – 2:28
Second Quarter:
GHS – Blake Sullivan 4-yard run (Gentry Cole kick) – 8:33
Third Quarter:
MV – Hartman 17-yard pass from Flaming (Matchette kick) – 7:30
GHS – Gonzalez 61-yard run (Cole kick) – 6:37
Fourth Quarter:
MV – Rice 21-yard pass from Flaming (Matchette kick) – 10:58
GHS – Sullivan 1-yard run (Sullivan run) – 4:10
Second Overtime:
GHS – Jordan Cooke 15-yard pass from Sullivan (kick failed)
Mill Valley – Rice 10-yard pass from Flaming (Matchette kick)
Team Statistics: Mill Valley Goddard
First Downs 22 19
Rushes-Yards (net) 49-163 58-349
Passing Yds (net) 200 79
Passes: Att-Comp-Int 29-16-1 17-8-2
Total Yards 363 428
Punts (Num-Avg) 6-27.5 5-32.5
Fumbles-lost 2-0 4-2
Penalties-Yards 8-42 7-68
Possession Time 21:46 26:14
Third Down Conv 8 of 17 6 of 14
Fourth Down Conv 0 of 1 1 of 2
Individual Statistics:
RUSHING: MV: Brody Flaming 27-122; Cameron Young 22-41. Goddard: Kody Gonzalez 25-188; Blake Sullivan 31-150; Dayton Driskill 2-11.
PASSING: MV: Flaming 16-29-1, 200. Goddard: Sullivan 8-17-2, 79
RECEIVING: MV: Ben Hartman 5-98, Evan Rice 8-87, Logan Talley 2-23, Jack Matchette 1-1. Goddard: Bryant Mocaby 5-49, Jordan Cooke 3-30.
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