Football: Amador Valley Scores in Final 1:05 to Knock Off Freedom 7-0

Amador Valley 7, Freedom 0

The Star: Cameron Ashtiani rushed for 66 yards and scored the game's only touchdown on a 3-yard run with 1:05 left in the game.

The Turning Point: Kyle Moreno's 11-yard scramble on third-and-12 from the Freedom 34 and subsequent 3-yard sneak for a first down to extend winning drive.

The Quote: "It was frustrating but the thing I was pleased with was our kids dealt better with that frustration than me," said coach Rick Sira. "The kids did a great job of being able to shake off some of the plays we gave up and some of the drives we didn't get in. I am very proud of them being able to stick to their fundamental stuff and get it done in the third quarter."

What's Next? Amador Valley travels to play Concord High, 7 p.m. Sept. 10.

Bottom Line:  Amador's defense held Freedom to 180 yards and had the ball most of the evening but the offense remains a question mark after graduation departures.

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Whatever Amador Valley memories lingered from last year's 38-point thumping of the Freedom High Falcons were long forgotten Friday night for 58 minutes and 55 seconds of scoreless football.

Four missed field goals, two of them blocked, had the homestanding Dons reeling in frustration at being unable to put the visitors from Oakley away.

All that ended at the Freedom 3-yard-line. Running back Cameron Ashtiani took the handoff from sophomore quarterback Kyle Moreno, got behind blocks from the right side of his line — tackle James Cook and guard Codey Heidebrecht — and powered his way into the end zone for the score which gave the Dons a hard-fought, if imperfect, 7-0 victory.

"I was just thinking 'one chance left, we've got to do it for the team,'" Ashtiani said. "We'd been working hard for this moment, let's take advantage of it.'"

With linebacker Cameron Steams leading the hard-charging defense, the Dons managed to also hold the upper hand on offense most of the evening. They outgained the Falcons 323 to 180 and controlled the ball 75 plays to 52. But all they had to show for it was a demeaning zero on the scoreboard.

Coach Rick Sira was relieved the game didn't come down to a fifth field goal try by kicker Alex Osterholt. Not that blame for the previous misses fell totally on his shoulders.

"That was our fault," Sira said. "One of the things we did on the (ensuring successful) PAT was that our snapper didn't do a great job of (before) was varying his snap in terms of timing. (Freedom) did a great job of timing it and being able to block the ones they blocked."

The earlier misses came from 21 yards (partial block), 29 yards (wide right), 40 yards (wide left) and 24 yards (blocked). The 40-yard miss came in the fourth quarter but was offset by a roughing the kicker penalty against Freedom. Five plays later Falcons' tackle David Ternes blocked the kick with 5:02 to play.

However, following a Freedom punt, the Dons got the ball back on the Falcons' 45 and launched their victorious drive.

With Moreno at quarterback — he and Patrick Gibbons alternated the entire game —Amador got an interference penalty for a first down at the Freedom 42, but three plays later following a sack, were faced with third-and-12 at the 34.

Moreno dropped to pass but saw no open receivers and scrambled through the middle of the Freedom defense for 11 of the 12 yards. On fourth-and-1, Moreno picked up three yards for the first down.

On the next play, Moreno found receiver Carson Ewanich open over the middle and Iwanich fought his way for 17 yards to the 3. After a run by A.J. Tyson netted no gain, Ashtiani bulled into the end zone for the winning score.

Sira said the decision to alternate quarterbacks was intended to determine the ultimate successor to the graduated Kean Stancil.

"We'll play it that way until we find a guy that is clearly better than the other," Sira said. "But right now they are both contributing. They both had great off seasons and last week in the scrimmage (against Newark) they were very close. I don't know the stats but tonight I thought they were very close and did some good things. Throwing is part of it but being able to lead and do the running thing is too."

If Friday was any indication, Morena is the early leader. He completed 8-of-17 passs for 111 yards and no interceptions. Gibbons was 7-for-19 for 82 yards and a pair of interceptions.

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Amador 7, Freedom 0

Freedom   0 0 0 0 — 0

Amador  0 0 0 7 — 7

Scoring Summary:

1:05, 4th: Ashtiani 3 run (Osterholt kick)

Individual Statistics

Rushing (car-yards): F -- Shepherd 8-58, Cooper 11-36, Rodriguez 2-5, Daniels 1-3, Mayes 4-1. A -- Ashtiani 12-66, Tyson 10-36, Gibbons 7-19, Isabel 4-18, Osterholt 1-10, Moreno 3-8, Ewanich 1-4, Heidebrecht 1-(-9).

Passing (comp-att-yards-ints): F -- Mayes 8-26-0-77. A -- Gibbons 7-19-82-2, Moreno 8-17-111-0.

Receiving (rec-yds): F -- Shepherd 2-27, Brinkman 2-19, Rodriguez 2-11, Ozment 1-12. A -- Osterholt 6-69, Ewanich 2-32, Isabel 2-19, Gibbons 1-22, Cummings 1-21, Papageorge 1-16, Windell 1-11, Tyson 1-3.

Team offense (rush-pass-total)

Freedom -- 103-77-180

Amador -- 152-171=323

Fumbles/lost: Freedom 2-1, Amador 1-0

Records: Amador 1-0, Freedom 0-1

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