By David Delgado, The Orange County Register The Tribune Content Agency
SANTA ANA -- The Los Amigos football team was on the brink of school history during its final drive of the team's regular-season finale.
With the Lobos' perfect season hanging in the balance, they trailed by six points with less than three minutes remaining.
They responded with a go-ahead touchdown run by Adrian Ramirez with 35 seconds left and held on to beat Calvary Chapel 17-16 Friday night at Segerstrom High.
Los Amigos finishes the regular season 10-0 for the first time in program history and earns the Sigma League title.
"It was never a goal of ours to go 10-0," Lobos coach Melo Guess said. "We were always one game at a time, and up until this week, we never even thought about it. It's not something we talked about, it was something in God's hands and we were going to put every effort and do our part and here we are. I'm blessed with the opportunity."
Eagles quarterback Matthew Peters gave his team a 13-10 lead after an amazing display of will and determination to find the end zone, breaking several tackles and eluding a couple of more Los Amigos players en route to a 12-yard score.
"That kid's great and I thought it showed tonight. And that was probably the best run that I've ever seen, or at least coached against, and it was definitely a deflater," Guess said of Peters' touchdown run.
Peters threw for 145 yards and also ran for 96 yards and a score.
Calvary Chapel coach Jack McInally had plenty of praise for Peters, whom he calls the "heart and soul" of the team.
"I can't speak highly enough about him," McInally said, "he's all heart. God gave him some wonderful gifts and he uses them."
After the Peters touchdown, the Lobos went downfield and looked to tie the game with a field goal attempt but it was blocked by Eli Sutherland. The ball was then scooped by Jorge Brito, who returned it to the Los Amigos 22.
Calvary Chapel had to settle for a 27-yard field goal by Jett Rauch.
"He (Sutherland) laid out for it on the field goal, but we should've finished those drives," McInally said. "We ended with a field goal and it came back to bite us."
Los Amigos began its game-winning drive at its 36, and Isaac Galindo (87 yards, TD) and Raul Cruz (80 yards) took turns gaining large chunks of yardage on the eight-play drive.
Cruz broke a 24-yard run and a few plays later took the ball just short of the goal line. Ramirez, who ran for a team-high 120 yards, took the snap and rode his offensive linemen into the end zone.
The Lobos passed their most difficult test of the season as they trailed early after Waldo Castrejon's TD run for Calvary Chapel and then trailed late in the game after Peters scored.
Galindo and the Lobos responded to the 6-0 deficit by producing a 10-point second quarter to take a lead into halftime. Galindo scored on a 8-yard run and Erubey Bermudez nailed a 38-yard field goal.
The Eagles (4-6, 3-2) had an opportunity to earn a share of the league title on Friday but are feeling optimistic heading into the CIF-SS playoffs.
"We are so excited for the playoffs and we just can't wait to see who we're playing," McInally said. "When we were 0-4, we were unified. Having all these tough losses can divide a team and we haven't done that, so it's a testament to our leadership on our team.