Vista Murrieta rallies past Corona Santiago, 21-17

By JOHN MURPHY
The Press-Enterprise

CORONA - The Vista Murrieta football team moved in fits and starts for more than 3 ½ quarters and misfired often. But in the final three minutes, the Broncos got it together to score the winning touchdown and defeat Corona Santiago 21-17.

Darion Williams' 14-yard scoring catch from Derrick Brown with 16.5 seconds left won it for Vista Murrieta, ranked No. 1 in the CIF-Southern Section's Inland Division.

Williams took a pass on the left sideline as the momentum of the play moved to the right and sprinted to the end zone untouched.

"I saw a wide-open space," Williams said. "All I had to do was outrun them. You have no idea (how this feels). I cannot believe it. As soon as I caught the ball I knew we had won the game."

Vista Murrieta coach Coley Candaele wasn't overjoyed with the way his team played, but he couldn't quibble about the outcome.

"Santiago played very well on defense," Candaele said. "They were ready to play. They wanted to stop the run and they did, and we were out of sync in our passing game for three quarters."

On the opposite sideline, Santiago coach Jeff Steinberg was disappointed with the final score, but not with his players' efforts.

"We played our (rears) off," Steinberg said. "This is actually a great way to end the non-league season. We played a very good schedule and we improved every game."

Trailing 10-7 at halftime, Vista Murrieta regained the lead 14-10 on Brown's 16-yard scoring run with 2:14 left in the third quarter.

But Santiago (1-2) struck back quickly on sophomore quarterback Michael Darr's 21-yard scoring pass to Dominique Beale, giving the Sharks a 17-14 lead with 11:13 left.

Vista Murrieta was repelled once with 5:55 left when Brown was stopped just short on fourth-and-2 from the Shark's 14-yard line.

But given a second chance about three minutes later, the Broncos (2-0) would not be denied again.

Brown threw for 205 yards and one score for Vista Murrieta. Receiver Michael Mazur caught seven passes for 152 yards for the Broncos.

Santiago safety Simon Connette and linebacker Erjo Ederaine shined for the Sharks on defense.

Jagade Snyder had two interceptions for Vista Murrieta.