By Matt Lechuga
For The Signal
Junior quarterback Brayden Connelly lived every high school quarterback’s dream Friday night, leading his team on a game-winning drive with only seconds left on the clock to secure a 38-35 shootout win over host Camarillo.
Down 35-30 with 1:15 to play, Landon Lattimore set up the Centurions with excellent field position, breaking away on the kickoff and getting all the way down to the Camarillo 37-yard line. From there it was all on Connelly’s shoulders. A pass interference penalty on the Scorpions brought Saugus to the 22-yard line where Connelly chipped away with short passes of 5 and 12 yards until they got down to the 5-yard line with only 17 seconds left. From there, he found Lattimore to give the Centurions the lead for good, and a 2-point conversion by Mono Ortega made the final score of 38-35.
“Honestly we just needed to score,” said Saugus head coach Jason Bornn. “Look, we’ve got skill, we’ve got talent, and we want to put the ball in their hands. We asked both Brayden and Zach to just be dealers. Deal the ball to the playmakers and let them make you look good.”
One of the biggest playmakers for Saugus was Lattimore. On top of his return that set up his game-winning touchdown, he found the end zone two other times; the first being a 69-yard bomb in the first quarter and the second a 3-yard catch in the second quarter. He finished the game with six catches for 110 yards and the three scores.
Neither team’s defense was much of a factor in the game, with the first punt coming well into the second quarter. The teams traded scores back and forth in the first quarter, Camarillo striking first on a 37-yard pass from Brad Barlow to Johnny Diaz. Saugus was quick to respond with the 69-yard touchdown from Connelly to Lattimore.
The Scorpions immediately took the lead back on a 21-yard pass from Barlow to Malakai Mejia that was answered by Lattimore’s 3-yard score. The defenses finally settled in, exchanging stops until Camarillo scored on a 1-yard rush by David Alvarez to give Camarillo a 22-14 halftime lead.
But Saugus responded with its own 1-yard score by Connelly to tie the game.
“We still have plenty of room for improvement,” said Bornn. “I just feel like they’re clicking, they’re doing the things they need to do and what’s crazy is we’re doing it with guys that aren’t normally the starters. We’ve got some guys that are banged up, so we have guys that ordinarily wouldn’t be starting for us, but they’re doing what they need to do.”
Camarillo took the lead early in the fourth on a 26-yard pass from Barlow to Jacob Garcia, but seven plays and a 3-yard scoring run by Jeremiah Caradine, along with a clutch 2-point conversion by Ortega, gave Saugus a 30-29 lead. Camarillo’s next drive went 12 plays and was extended by a pass interference penalty by Saugus on third and seven. Nine plays later Barlow hit Carter McPeters on a 13-yard pass up the right side to give the Scorpions a 35-30 lead and set up Connelly’s game-winning drive.
“Anytime you compete, and you compete against a quality opponent, you grow,” said Bornn. “Our theme of the week was don’t blink, and we didn’t blink. Matter of fact, we just cut our eyelids off and played the entire second half with that mantra.”
Saugus will look to keep its momentum next week when it hosts Hueneme.
