A second consecutive tight game ended in a tie for the San Lorenzo Valley High football team last weekend.
With one league game remaining — a Friday night contest at Harbor High School at 7 p.m. Nov. 6 — the Cougars are 2-1-2 in the Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League and battling for a Central Coast Section playoff berth.
Front-runner Scotts Valley High (2-0-2) controls its own destiny for the league title, but a Falcon loss and a win for SLV over Harbor would give the Cougars a tie with their valley rivals.
In the Cougars’ most recent tie, a comeback against Santa Cruz, junior quarterback Zach Newberry hooked up with junior receiver Luke Roberts on a 4-yard touchdown pass with 55 seconds remaining. The Cougars tied the game when starting quarterback Trevor Romele found receiver Patrick Salibi on the ensuing 2-point conversion to forge a 28-28 tie with the Cardinals.
The game was a back-and-forth affair.
After Todd scored the first touchdown midway through the first quarter, Santa Cruz answered with two of its own in the second to go up 14-7.
Todd scored twice more in the third as SLV took a 20-14 lead, but Santa Cruz punched in two touchdowns in the fourth, setting up the dramatic catch by Roberts.
Roberts is earning a reputation as a clutch receiver after also grabbing a 12-yard catch to beat Soquel, 28-27, on Oct. 16.
And Todd continued his torrid streak, rushing for 219 yards and three touchdowns in his biggest game of the season, as he also broke the single-season rushing yardage and touchdown records for the Cougars. He leads the Central Coast Section in rushing and scoring with one game remaining.
Todd has rushed for more than 100 yards in eight games and scored three touchdowns in four separate contests.
