BIGGS — Costly turnovers and a mismatched offensive line were the difference in Friday’s 20-10 road victory for Los Molinos at Biggs High School.
The No. 3 Bulldogs (8-3) topped the No. 2 Wolverines (9-2) in the second round of the Northern Section Division 5 playoffs, as Los Molinos now advances to the section championship against No. 1 Fall River at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
“We got a very good halftime speech from coach,” said Los Molinos senior lineman Adrian Ramirez. “He kept our fire. He kept us intense. For Fall River, now we’re gonna show them who the real Bulldogs are.”
Ramirez and fellow senior lineman Eric Belcher led the way for running back Hunter Landingham, who led the Los Molinos rushing attack with a pair of rushing touchdowns.
“Hunter Landingham, our star, had a rough game against them last time and he stepped up and that’s what we needed,” said Los Molinos head coach James Humphrey.
Biggs shut down Landingham early, forcing a 4-and-out on the first possession. After a Shavon Gramps-Green return and a 15-yard facemask penalty on Los Molinos, Biggs set up 1 and 10 from the Los Molinos 27-yard line. However, an interception thrown by Biggs junior quarterback Gregg Slusser on his first pass of the day gave Los Molinos the ball back.
Biggs’ defense would shut down the Los Molinos offense once again, but a fumble by Biggs just outside of the 20-yard line gave Los Molinos the ball back once more. Landingham would make the most of the opportunity, running the ball in from the 21-yard line untouched to take a 6-0 lead.
“I feel like they won the battle at the line and they controlled the line,” said Biggs coach Tyler Rutledge. “They have a good line and I feel like that was the difference. We were able to get some turnovers last time and this time, they got the turnovers.”
In the second quarter, both teams exchanged scoring, as Slusser connected with Casen Rivero from 17 yards away for a touchdown, before kicker Mauricio Rosales converted on the PAT.
Los Molinos responded with a touchdown run by No. 5 Logan Rose, who ran it in from 10 yards away with 57.2 seconds remaining until halftime. On Biggs’ first play from scrimmage, Slusser connected with Andrew Wylie for a 30-yard completion, which set up a 35-yard field goal by Rosales. The kick trimmed the Bulldogs’ lead to 14-10 at halftime.
However, after halftime, it was all Los Molinos, despite only six fourth quarter points by either team.
Slusser threw interceptions two and three on two of the final three Biggs possessions. Nearing the end of the third quarter, Los Molinos senior Hayden Hamre picked off Slusser near midfield, before freshman Nick Macias picked off Slusser on the final possession. Four straight runs by Landingham and a kneel sealed the win for Los Molinos.
“When we first started, they knew everything,” the Bulldogs lineman, Ramirez said. “They knew what we were doing, they knew our calls, so we had to improvise a little bit. We had to start looking for holes, talk to our QB, talk to our receivers, and everyone who was blocking to get our running back through those holes.”
The score
Los Molinos 20, Biggs 10
Up next: NSCIF Division V Championships, Los Molinos at Fall River, 7 p.m., Wednesday.
