Penalties and special teams miscues made things tough on Desert Oasis all night in its football season opener against Sierra Vista.
But with their backs against the wall, the Diamondbacks came up with their biggest defensive stand of the night.
Desert Oasis recorded two sacks, broke up a pass in the end zone and had an interception on Sierra Vista’s overtime possession to secure a 36-28 home win over the Mountain Lions in the annual “Bell Game.”
“We practice how we play. We put in the hours, we grinded our asses off, we just put in the work,” said senior defensive end Philip Outley, who had a key sack in overtime. “And that’s all it is. It’s all it ever will be.”
Desert Oasis (1-0) got the ball first in the overtime period, and quarterback Preston Helsham hit Xavier Mullikin with a 10-yard touchdown pass in the back of the end zone on second-and-goal to give the Diamondbacks the lead.
“My first catch of the game was the game-winning touchdown,” said Mullikan. “I’m just so happy. And the ref was trying to say it wasn’t a catch. We all saw it was a catch. Ball don’t lie. We won the game.”
Mullikin caught the ball in the back of the end zone. While one official immediately signaled touchdown, another said the receiver didn’t catch the ball cleanly. Ultimately, the TD stood, and Helsham hit Anthony Sarracino for the 2-point conversion and an 8-point lead.
The Diamondbacks immediately made it tougher to hold their lead as they were flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct on the play, meaning that Sierra Vista started its overtime possession at the 5-yard line.
Damarvion Bailey broke up a pass in the end zone on first down, and then Outley had perhaps the game’s biggest play, sacking Sierra Vista’s Pinisimani Tangitau to make it third-and-goal from the 8.
Noah Castro sacked Tangitau on the next play, setting up fourth-and-goal from the 18, and Bailey picked off Tangitau’s desperation pass to seal the win.
Desert Oasis had 122 yards of penalties and saw Sierra Vista recover two kickoffs to help set up scores in the first half.
“It was a lot of adversity, jumping out right away, and then falling behind,” Desert Oasis coach Matt Rosdahl said. “A lot of mistakes. The good thing is that it’s things we can we can fix, those kind of errors and penalties and stuff that we had. So hopefully something we can grow from . But the guys kept fighting, kept clawing. We got a huge stop at the end. Obviously they had four plays to get five yards and the defense stepped up.
“It doesn’t get any better than that when you’ve got to get a stop like that.”
Desert Oasis took a 28-22 lead with 10:55 to go in the game on a 76-yard TD pass from Helsham to Evan Cox. Cox caught the short pass, slipped a tackle at the 30 and raced down the right sideline for the score.
The Diamondbacks looked like they might be able to seal the win in regulation, but committed two penalties deep in their own territory to help extend Sierra Vista’s drive, and Tangitau was able to bounce off a tackler and score on a 3-yard run on third-and-goal to tie the game with 38 seconds left.
Desert Oasis then was called for offsides on Sierra Vista’s first two extra point attempts, both of which would have been good if not for the penalty before the snap.
On the third try, the snap was high, and holder Elijah Romero was dragged down in the backfield and the game remained tied.
Outley, who had two sacks, two other tackles for loss and a forced fumble, said winning the rivalry game in front of a rowdy crowd was a great way to open the season.
“It feels great, man,” Outley said. “The fans love us. It’s that atmosphere, you feel it everywhere. It’s how we play, it’s how we’re going to announce ourselves for the rest of the year. Look out for DO, I promise you.”
Helsham completed 11 of 23 passes for 238 yards and three TDs. Cox had three catches for 140 yards and two TDs, all in the second half.
Tangitau completed 14 of 30 passes for 277 yards and three TDs to pace the Mountain Lions (0-1).
