Gauchos hold off Windsor in a thriller, 21-20

Casa Grande held off a furious Windsor rally in the final minutes of the game to post a thrilling 21-20 win at Steve Ellison Field on Friday.|

Casa Grande held off a furious Windsor rally in the final minutes of the game to post a thrilling 21-20 win at Steve Ellison Field on Friday. The Gauchos led the entire game after scoring in the first minute of play, but had to hold off a two-point conversion to earn their first victory of the season.

The Gauchos came out in very energetic fashion in their first game on Petaluma High School soil, and their defense led the way. On the first Windsor series of the game, left handed quarterback Max Brown threw into coverage, and a tipped ball was picked off by Nic Petri, who ran into the end zone untouched with 11 minutes left in the first period.

Casa sparkled on defense most of the way after the teams exchanged first-half touchdowns to leave the Gauchos leading, 14-7, at intermission.

The Gauchos made their only serious drive of the game in the second quarter keyed by a 37-yard fake punt by Holton Johnson that caught the Jaguar special team napping. Four consecutive pass completions by quarterback JJ Anderson got the job done. His final toss to big tight end Eli Chirco for eight yards in the back of the end zone gave Casa a 14-0 lead.

Windsor came right back to march 70 yards in 10 plays to cut the lead in half. Three costly major penalties were instrumental in the drive.

Once again, the Gauchos came out firing in the second half as they scored before many fans returned from the concession stand. Anderson found receiver Kaleo Garrigan streaking down the right side and the senior caught the ball in full stride to pull away from the last defender on a 65-yard touchdown play.

The defense for the Gauchos finally began to tire in the late going when Windsor moved the ball on the ground for 62 yards with running back David Escracega getting the majority of calls. With time running down past the three-minute mark in the final quarter, Brown bulled it in from the 1-yard line and coach Tom Kirkpatrick called time out with Casa clinging to a 21-10 lead.

The Jaguars decided to skip a possible overtime tie breaker, and go for it all by opting for two points. On a halfback handoff that first appeared to be a run, a quick pass to the right corner of the end zone was batted down by a band of weary Gaucho defenders.

Things were not quite settled, however, as the Jags got the ball back with a little over a minute remaining, and moved the ball consistently again. With time running out, Brown threw across the field and the ball was picked off by Spencer Torkelson, and that ended it.

It was fitting because Torkleson made several open-field tackles to prevent big gainers throughout the game.

“We pushed them around in that last series, but give Casa Grande credit on that last play,” noted Kirkpatrick, “That was a good play and they had players in position.”

For more on the Casa Grande-Windsor game, see Thursday’s Argus-Courier.

UPDATED: Please read and follow our commenting policy:
  • This is a family newspaper, please use a kind and respectful tone.
  • No profanity, hate speech or personal attacks. No off-topic remarks.
  • No disinformation about current events.
  • We will remove any comments — or commenters — that do not follow this commenting policy.