There were three plays that led to Rancho Mirage High School’s comeback victory over Desert Hot Springs on Thursday. Without all three, the Rattlers probably wouldn’t have emerged with the 22-16 win.
The first was the touchdown by JaDarius Hester right before the intermission. That, and the two-point conversion that followed, cut a 16-0 Desert Hot Springs lead to 16-8 and handed the Rattlers the early momentum in the second half.
Then, in the fourth quarter, after Rancho Mirage had scored two more touchdowns to take a 22-16 lead, a fumble ended a lengthy Desert Hot Springs drive.
On the ensuing drive, the Rattlers needed a fourth down conversation to move the chains and they got it when they pulled off a brilliant fake read-option into a screen
pass once the defense bit on the run. The Rattlers turned the ball over on downs just three yards from the end zone but ate up almost most of the fourth quarter clock on that final drive.
Desert Hot Springs had the ball with just two seconds left on the clock to drive 97 yards, but the Rattlers made the stop and celebrated what once appeared to be an unlikely comeback win.
“This was a tough team we faced tonight,” Rattlers head coach LD Matthews said. “But we never gave up. I'm proud of this team.”
For Desert Hot Springs, the loss was initially devastating. But head coach Roy Provost put it all into perspective after the game.
“The lesson is that we need to play four quarters of football,” Provost said. "We just didn't do that tonight."
Rancho Mirage will be off this week before opening its Desert Empire League slate against Palm Desert on Oct. 2. Desert Hot Springs will next face Miller (Fontana).
Matthews coached at Desert Hot Springs for eight years before being hired at Rancho Mirage. Provost was an assistant under Matthews at Rancho Mirage before later being hired to coach Desert Hot Springs.
“I wanted this one," Provost said. "But we’ll learn from this one and come back better next week. These tough games are preparing us to compete in our league.”
The three stars
The first star from the game was Jayden Ayers, the Rattlers’ junior tailback who scored in the second half and kept the chains moving late in the game with his hard running. Without Ayers, the Rattlers wouldn’t have won the game.
Josiah Casillas, the sophomore linebacker who recovered the fourth quarter fumble, gets the second star.
Desert Hot Springs senior Jesus Valenzuela, who scored an early touchdown and landed a punt on the 1-yard line, which led to a safety for the Golden Eagles, gets the third star.
Takeaway
Rancho Mirage really impressed me with its ability to bounce back in a game that looked over late in the second quarter. The Rattlers showed a lot of grit and determination and made the key plays down the stretch that led the victory.
I think the biggest takeaway is that Rancho Mirage executed better than I expected for such a young, sophomore-led team. They made the plays that won the game.
While the loss is surely disappointing for Desert Hot Springs, I’m a believer that a team often learns more from a loss than a win and I think the Golden Eagles will ultimately benefit from this loss.
I know that doesn’t soften the blow much, but I’m reminded of something that Provost told me after the game. He said that while everyone wants to have a perfect, unbeaten regular season, the most important thing is that a team is playing its best at the end of the year and the lessons that will be learned from this game will, I believe, make the Golden Eagles better at the end of the year.
Andrew John covers sports and recreation in the Coachella Valley for The Desert Sun. Email him at andrew.john@desertsun.com.
This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Rancho Mirage storms back to stun Desert Hot Springs
