Live Oak completes incredible rally at Christopher: ‘This was our Super Bowl’

GILROY — Unfazed by a 21-point deficit just seven minutes into the game, the Live Oak football team came all the way back to beat Christopher 28-24 in a matchup between undefeated teams from neighboring towns in front of a packed house at Christopher.

“Unbelievable game,” Live Oak coach Mike Gemo said. “This is a great rivalry, Christopher and Live Oak, has been for years. It comes down to games like this, two teams and two groups of kids that know each other and like to battle against each other.”

With the win Live Oak (9-0, 5-0) captures the Blossom Valley Athletic League Mt. Hamilton Division championship, the top division in the 24-team BVAL. Christopher (9-1, 4-1) fell just short.

“If Live Oak and Christopher played 10 times in a year it would probably end up 5-5,” Christopher coach Darren Yafai said. “They got us this time. We’re proud of our kids. They played their hearts out to the very end.”

Will Rizqallah, who finished with 171 yards rushing on 22 carries, broke a 67-yard run on the second play of the game to get Christopher on the scoreboard early.

Live Oak fumbled a handoff on its first play and Devin Rios recovered for the Cougars. Jaxen Robinson hit Terrence Barnes for an 18-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-0 just a couple minutes into the game.

Then Live Oak went three and out and Christopher put together an 11-play, 74-yard drive with Josiah Garcia scoring on an 18-yard run to make it 21-0 with 5:00 still left in the first quarter.

The question at that point was how Live Oak would respond. Christian Hauge provided a rapid response. Hauge, the Central Coast Section 100-meter champion last spring as a junior, took a handoff on a jet sweep and jetted 47 yards for a touchdown to give the Acorns their first points.

A sack by Zurik Peery forced a Christopher punt from deep in its own territory in the second quarter, and Live Oak took over at the Christopher 38. Four plays later Luke Newell connected with Robbie Rael on an 11-yard touchdown pass. The score was 21-14 and the battle was on.

“We’ve been putting in the work since summer ball,” defensive end and wide receiver Luke Rickey said. “We’re the best conditioned team in the league.”

.Rylan Antipuesto’s 34-yard field goal on the last play of the second quarter put Christopher up 24-14 at halftime.

But the second half belonged to Live Oak, which went to its bread and butter, the power ground attack, to move the ball and keep it away from the home team. Live Oak went into the game averaging 237 yards rushing per game. They finished with 233 on Friday. 

Live Oak took the second-half kickoff and drove 62 yards in 11 plays with hard-running workhorse running back Josh Gagni (26 carries, 136 yards) scoring on a 10-yard run.

There were only two possessions in the third quarter. Christopher went on an 11-play drive that ended with an incomplete pass on fourth-and-goal from the 4 as the quarter came to an end.

The Acorns proceeded to march 96 yards in 13 plays, 12 rushing, with Anden Rogers scoring on a 2-yard run to take a 28-24 lead with 4:54 left. They went to a single-wing formation during that drive with Rogers receiving the snap at tailback.

“He’s our backup quarterback, a sophomore, and he does a good job of running that offense for us,” Gemo said.

Christopher drove from its own 24 to the Live Oak 6 where Robinson’s pass, gunned into a cluster of players at the goal line, was picked off by middle linebacker Zach Rocha.

“I got smacked but I held on to it,” Rocha said.

Christopher got the ball back one last time and made it to the Live Oak 19 before time ran out.

Then it was time for a Live Oak celebration to acknowledge the magnitude of the win.

“This was our Super Bowl,” Rocha said.

“I grew up with some of those guys, went to elementary and middle school with them,” Richey said. “At the end of the day it’s all love.”