Piner beats Santa Rosa
Sat. October 22, 2011 at 8:13 p.m. | By Phil Barber
Piner quarterback Noel Hernandez warms up during practice on August 16. (Photo by Crista Jeremiason / Press Democrat)
By HOWARD SENZELL
FOR THE PRESS DEMOCRAT
With Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” blaring from the loudspeakers at nearly every stoppage of play in the fourth quarter, Piner rallied to defeat visiting Santa Rosa, 45-21, in a North Bay League game Saturday afternoon.
The Prospectors scored 38 unanswered points to win their first game of the season, and in the process presented new coach John Antonio with his initial victory.
Trailing 21-7 late in the second quarter and with the temperature on the field near 100 degrees, Piner appeared on the way to its seventh loss. Derrick Lovvourn gave the home team a boost by scoring on a 10-yard counter play 2:37 before intermission.
Down 21-14, Antonio glanced over to the Santa Rosa sideline and saw something that made him smile.
“Their players looked exhausted,” Antonio said. “When we got to the locker room, I told my kids what I saw. They weren’t tired at all. I told them we were going to wear them down. My guys bought into that.
“We put on music and some of the guys kicked back and started dancing. We were fresh and full of confidence leaving the locker room.”
Running back Justin Pilisdorf got Piner to within a point with a 62-yard run up the middle at 2:29 of the third quarter. And just like Antonio told his players, the Santa Rosa defense was tired and couldn’t catch up with the running back. The Prospectors went for a 2-point conversion, but the gamble failed.
That turned out to be the last thing that went wrong for Piner. A fumble by Panthers running back Tyree Collins at his own 20 was cashed in by Piner moments later as quarterback Noel Hernandez found Natu Hezchias in the end zone, five yards behind a Santa Rosa defender.
Leading as the fourth quarter began for the first time this season, the Piner players were believing that elusive first win was only 12 minutes away.
Antonio jogged onto the field before the fourth quarter began with a one-sentence message for his players.
“The blood is in the water and we’re the sharks,” he told his team, and then jogged back to the sidelines.
The Prospectors played the fourth quarter in a frenzy. The defense, led by Tex Nahmens, Brandon Mills and Cameron Eisenhauer, kept the Santa Rosa defense from getting anything going.
Meanwhile, the offense scored three times. Lovvourn went untouched into the end zone from 4 yards out, Pilisdorf waltzed in from the 14 and Kyle Patterson scored on an 8-yard pass from Hernandez.
When the final horn sounded and the Piner players were celebrating, “Don’t Stop Believin’” was played in its entirety.
Sophomore quarterback Hernandez wound up throwing four touchdown passes while completing 15 of 25 passes for 220 yards.
“The Piner program is on the upswing,” Hernandez said. “The coaching staff deserves the credit. They believed in us and now we believe in ourselves. Next year, our goal is to make the (North Coast Section) playoffs.”
In 2012, the Prospectors will join the Sonoma County League. Hezchias, a junior, is looking forward to the move.
“All year, we’ve made mistakes and just gave our opponents points,” Hezchias said. “This game we played error-free and look at how it turned out.
“With the players we’ve got coming back next year, we believe we’ll be in the title race.”
Santa Rosa coach Les Richardson, while disappointed, volunteered that the best team won.
“Piner did a great job,” he said. “They wanted it more than my guys. They ran the same slant route I don’t know how many times in the second half. We were never in position to defend it.”
The Prospectors will be favored to make it two straight as they play at Elsie Allen on Friday night. Piner won one game last year and that was against the Lobos.
Santa Rosa has lost five straight after beginning the season with two wins.
The Panthers are 0-3 in the NBL while Piner is 1-3.