El Cajon, Calif - In a game that had over a thousand total yards of offense, 854 yards through the air; a dramtic finish is exactly what happened. The Golden West defense gave up 26 points in the fourth quarter as Grossmont clinched the improbable come from behind victory with a 20 yard field goal with five seconds remaining to win 36-34.
The offense for both the Rustlers and Griffins took till the second half to get going as the Rustler's opened the game with a pair of field goals by kicker Emmanuel Cuevas from 26 and 24 yards. Grossmont responded with a field goal of their own to cut the lead in half 6-3 but the Rustlers responded by scoring the games first touchdown on a five yard rush by Tevon Valdez to extend the lead 13-3 going into halftime.
Both teams would trade a touchdown in the third quarter to bring the score to 20-10 before the crazy fourth quarter drama and offensive video game like stats piled up. The Griffins would pull the game back to within a field goal early in the fourth quarter with a nine play 80 yard drive to cut into the lead 20-17. Golden West responded with a 24 yard touchdown pass from quarterback Joe Pyle to Xavier Smith to get the lead back to ten at 27-17. Grossmont would score a touchdown and a field to tie the game 27-27 on it's next two possessions, then they would take the lead when they intercepted a pass and took to the house for a 33-27 lead. Pyle unnerved led the Rustler offense on a quick five play 75 yard drive that culminated with a 15 yard touchdown pass to Derrick Deese to take the lead back 34-33 with 1:13 remaining in the game. The pesky Griffins were able to drive the ball down the 10 yard line to set up a game winning 20 yard field goal to steal a victory 36-34.
Golden West's quarterback Pyle threw for 485 yards and two touchdowns while throwing two interceptions. Wide out Deese racked up 157 yards receiving on seven catches with one for a touchdown and teammate Sheldon White hauled in 10 catches for 129 yards.
Next: Golden West will host it's final home game of the season as it closes out the 2017 season against Fullerton College on Saturday November 11th with a 1pm kickoff.
