BY HAROLD ABEND

Windsor, Calif.- Sometimes a game not only in football but in any sport comes down to one play, or in the case of the Friday night Redwood Empire Conference Football Adobe League opener between host Windsor and Cardinal Newman-Santa Rosa the outcome came down to two kicks.

One sailed wide left and the one that won the game came off the foot of Cardinal Newman senior placekicker Patrick Gardner, who after drilling a 33-yard field goal earlier in the game that would have gone 50-yards, split the uprights after the Cardinals scored in overtime to give Cardinal Newman a 24-23 victory.

Starting on the 25-yard line Windsor got the ball first in overtime and on fourth-and-15 quarterback Carter Vose found standout 6-foot-1, 200-pound senior Hayden Anderson for a 22-yard completion that got it down to the 8-yard line.

From there Anderson lined up in the wildcat formation and the 6-foot-1, 200-pound senior took it in for a touchdown. Unfortunately, for the Windsor faithful, junior placekicker Kevin Gonzalez, who had moments earlier booted home a 38-yard field goal that tied things at 17-17 and sent the game into overtime, missed wide left on the point after.

On its possession in overtime 6-foot-freshman quarterback Tino "LT" Retamoza had an incompletion on the first play but on the second play he found 6-foot-1, 165-pound junior wide receiver Jonah Bertolli for a touchdown. Multiple flags were thrown by the officials making the tying touchdown a question until the refs ruled it was a defensive penalty and Newman obviously declined it and took the score.

After a celebration following the tying touchdown, the real celebration began when Gardner booted home the game-winning point after touchdown. That's when the Cardinal Newman student section of the packed house and standing room only crowd swarmed the field.

"Right now I'm just emotionally drained," remarked Cardinal Newman head coach Richard Sanchez. "I think we called every possible adjustment that we had planned for, particularly their defense going jumbo and heavy at the line of scrimmage."

"They slowed the game down and that's what we thought they were going to do," Sanchez continued. "But I felt we matched up well and the coaches did a good job of preparing these guys in the two weeks we had."

Cardinal Newman (6-0) deferred and kicked off, and neither team did much on their first two possessions, each resulting in punts.

The score was 0-0 after one quarter but on the first play of the second quarter Windsor cashed in on its third drive of the game when they went 62 yards in eight plays, culminating in a fourth-and-five double reverse in which senior running back Wyatt Morris took the reverse pitch and then flipped it on the double reverse to Anderson who took it around right end and raced past everyone for a 21-yard touchdown that gave Windsor a 7-0 lead.

After each team traded punts Cardinal Newman got an equalizer when Retamoza hit 6-foot, 170-pound sophomore wide receiver Zion Cargill in stride and he raced past several defenders for a 65-yard touchdown reception.

Newman forced a three-and-out on the next Windsor drive and got the ball on the Jaguars 48 after a punt. Retamoza then completed five straight passes, three to Bertolli, including a 13-yard TD pass that gave the Cardinals a 14-7 lead.

A sack by 6-foot-4, 290-pound sophomore Kahlio Vaetoe ended the next Windsor drive, and from there Retamoza got Newman in position for the Gardner 33-yard field goal with 24.2 second left in the second quarter to give the visitors a 17-7 halftime lead.

The second half was like a tale of two halves.

After going 11-of-17 for 165 yards and two TDs passing, and rushing for 19 yards in the first half, Retamoza was unable to do much of anything in the final two quarters. At one point he threw seven-straight incompletions before the game winner to Bertolli and was 3-of-11 for eight yards passing and including a sack he had three yards rushing on two carries. All told Retamoza was 15-of-30 for 198 yards and three touchdowns, and he rushed for 22 yards.

The favorite targets for Retamoza were Cargill and Bertolli. Cargill finished with four catches for 93 yards on the one touchdown. Bertolli had six receptions for 83 yards and the two touchdowns.   

The score remained 17-7 through three quarters but that changed on the first play of the fourth quarter when sophomore quarterback Carter Vose completed an 11-play 56-yard drive with a 1-yard plunge that cut the Newman lead to 17-14.

A sack by junior Mason Spressard forced a Newman three-and-out and after Vose led Windsor on a 12-play drive that could have given Windsor back the lead, the Cardinals defense stiffened and forced the Guerrero field goal on play No. 13 that knotted things up.

Junior Marcello McFarland batted down a pass that forced another Cardinals three-and-out and Windsor got the ball on their own 10 with one final chance to win it in regulation, but after nine-straight running plays they couldn't get in field goal range and time expired.

Despite some costly penalties that kept two Windsor drives alive, including the one that resulted in the game-tying field goal, Cardinal Newman played error free football when it came to turnovers, and they were able to play through the dismal second half to escape with the win.

"Obviously when you beat a team like this, both undefeated and we win by one point, I feel bad for their kicker obviously because it's going to be on his shoulders for a while but I'll pray for him," Sanchez continued.

Windsor (5-1) needs to shake it off and will host a Sam Marin-Novato team next Friday night reeling from a 21-7 home loss to Marin Catholic-Kentfield.

Cardinal Newman hosts Rancho Cotate next Friday. The Cougars fell 31-21 in their Adobe League opener at home to Vintage-Napa.