Turns out a safety worth just two points can make a pretty big difference in a football game.
On Friday, it ended up being the difference for Palm Desert High School in a dramatic 20-19 win over Rancho Mirage to open Desert Empire League play.
The Aztecs won the game on a walk-off field goal by Reese Johnson as time expired. Players stormed the field in celebration at Jerry Argovitz Stadium in Rancho Mirage.
"I'm just proud of the boys," Palm Desert head coach Rudy Forti said. "That's a great football team. They're well coached, tough place to play, but we found a way to win it."
But the field goal wouldn’t have mattered if it weren’t for the safety that came on the Rattlers’ first possession. With the ball just seven yards in front of the goal line,
the snap sailed over quarterback Cael Woody’s head and Robert Carian forced Woody out of the back of the end zone to give Palm Desert an early 2-0 lead.
Late in the fourth quarter, Rancho Mirage scored on a halfback toss-and-pass from JaDarius Hester to Jayden Lopez to give the Rattlers a 19-17 lead. But the point-after attempt failed and that meant that Palm Desert still had a shot to win with a field goal with 3:12 remaining.
"My kicker came up to me and said, 'Coach, if you get a chance to kick it, I want to get it into the middle of the field,'" Forti said. "We got it as close tot he middle of the field as possible."
Palm Desert quarterback Joshua Perez connected with receiver Trey Boulton on three receptions on the ensuing drive to set up the field goal attempt. Forti allowed the clock to drain down to just two seconds and Johnson was set up for a manageable 24-yard field goal.
Rancho Mirage scored three touchdowns and held Palm Desert to just two. But the safety, the field goal and a two-point conversation put the Aztecs over the top in a game that may have DEL title implications at the end of the season.
“We played well enough to win,” Rattlers’ head coach LD Matthews said. “But we made too many mistakes on offense. That safety on a bad snap ended up being the difference in the game.”
The three stars
Carian finished the game with two quarterback sacks in addition to the safety for Palm Desert.
Hester threw two touchdown passes in the game. The first came on a halfback toss-and-pass with no time remaining in the first half. The second was on the same play late in the fourth quarter.
Perez threw a pair of touchdown passes. He didn’t have a prolific game, but he made some huge throws on the field drive and didn’t turn the ball over in the game.
Takeaway
It goes without saying that this was the game of the year so far in the valley. It’s difficult to see this being topped.
Despite the loss, Rancho Mirage really showed something in this game. They made some explosive plays and played particularly well on defense. The Rattlers had a turnover margin of -2 and still had a chance to win in the very end. That’s says something about this team.
For Palm Desert, the poise the Aztecs played with late in the game was impressive. Palm Desert got beat on a couple trick plays that led to touchdowns, but other than that there was a lot to like on offense, defense and special teams.
Rancho Mirage will now face La Quinta (1-0), which puts the Rattlers in a tough spot. That, too should be a fun game to watch.
Palm Desert will face Xavier Prep (1-0) on Friday.
Andrew John covers sports in the Coachella Valley at The Desert Sun. Email him at andrew.john@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: In game of year, Palm Desert tops Rancho Mirage on last-second field goal
