VALLEY CENTER ---- It had everything you would expect from a game between two undefeated teams: momentum swings, big plays, critical contributions from special teams. In the end, it was the efforts of a player that Valley Center High football coach Rob Gilster admiringly calls a "wild man" that helped turn the advantage to the Jaguars.
Tom Jauregui pounced on a fumble to give fourth-ranked Valley Center the ball with just under 5 minutes to play, then snagged a critical fourth-down pass to ensure that seventh-ranked Ramona wouldn't get the ball back and allow the Jaguars to run out the clock in a 17-16 Valley League victory.
Jauregui, who plays defensive end and tight end, had two sacks to go with his fumble recovery and made an 11-yard reception on a short pass from quarterback Beau Reilly to convert a fourth-and-3 with 41 seconds to play. Then Valley Center (8-0, 4-0) ran out the clock.
"Tommy Jauregui (is) one of our winners," Gilster said. "And when the game's on the line, you want your winner kids in position to win the game. Coach (Dave) Lay called that play, and it's to him for a reason. He's a winner kid."
The spirited Jauregui, who also had four tackles (one for a loss) and an assist, went a little overboard earlier in the game, picking up two penalties on one play (for an illegal block and a personal foul) ---- a 43-yard touchdown pass from Erik Ernst to Seth Drake that tied the game at 10-10 late in the first half.
"We try to control him a just a little bit," Gilster said. "We don't want to control him too much. But he's got to understand when he gets penalties that doesn't help us."
Ramona (7-1, 3-1) ran the ball on Valley Center like no team has all season. Ryan Morgan rushed for 163 yards on 22 carries, and the Bulldogs rolled up 228 yards on the ground. Tyler Jackson gave Ramona its only lead, 16-10, on a 6-yard run with 5 seconds to play in the third quarter.
The Bulldogs missed the extra point and turned it over three times.
"We made too many mistakes," Ramona coach Damon Baldwin said.
But on the ensuing kickoff, Stanton Upson fumbled the ball, then burst up the middle and raced 98 yards for the tying touchdown. David Last converted the extra point to give Valley Center the lead.
Last year, Valley Center handed Ramona its first loss of the season in the eighth game, when Last kicked a field goal in the final minute for a 16-13 victory. Last kicked a 26-yard field goal in the second quarter but also missed from 29 yards.
Ernst kicked a 29-yard field goal for Ramona.
"They're a physical team, and we had to match them," Jauregui said. "They're physical like that every year, every time we've played them. At first they were getting the upper hand. But the second half, we came out and matched them, and then some."
Ramona's defense bottled up Upson (33 carries, 89 yards), but Reilly picked up the slack with his best performance of the season, going 10-for-20 for 189 yards and a touchdown. He completed his first pass of the game to Matt Battelle for a 73-yard touchdown.
