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| Written by Marc Aceves | Patterson Irrigator | |
| Saturday, 29 November 2008 | |
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Patterson’s title hopes end with loss at Hilmar HILMAR — The pained look on coach Rob Cozart’s face Friday showed just how devastating the defeat was for the Patterson High football team, which believed it had all the ingredients in place to reach the Sac-Joaquin Section Division V title game. But those hopes took a hit when the Tigers’ top offensive threat, receiver Ronyea Ellington, suffered a high ankle sprain midway through the opening quarter, helping Hilmar to go on and secure a 34-7 semifinal victory. The Yellowjackets (11-1) were headed to the University of the Pacific for the championship game against Central Catholic. Patterson (8-4) was headed home as Cozart looked on in disbelief from the sideline at McSweeney Field. “They moved the chains when they wanted to,” Cozart said. “You try and make your adjustments, and you try and make a tweak here and there. “But it comes down to heart and intensity down in the pile.” Ellington, who led the Tigers this season with 798 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns, was instrumental in Patterson’s 24-21 comeback win over Argonaut in the first round a week prior. “It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Ronyea is an exceptional athlete,” Cozart said. “Without him, our offense does dip.” Without his favorite deep threat target in place, Tigers quarterback Daniel Reza scrambled to find other options, all the while being bombarded by an aggressive swarm of Yellowjackets defenders. Hilmar forced five turnovers, recovering a fumble and intercepting four of Reza’s passes. “We still had to throw the ball,” Cozart said. “Other guys had to step up (in Ellington’s absence).” Patterson caught an early break when Hilmar tight end Carl Jameson dropped a fourth-and-4 pass that would have kept the Yellowjackets’ opening drive alive. Instead, the Tigers took over on downs. Reza took the next snap, sprinting out to his left on an option play and flicking a lateral towards running back Larry Taylor. Taylor, however, couldn’t hold on to the ball, and Hilmar recovered the fumble at the Tigers’ 31-yard line. The Yellowjackets quickly took advantage of the turnover. Hilmar pounded the ball up the field, taking a 7-0 on tailback Hugh Ewing’s 2-yard plummet into the end zone. Patterson seemingly was on its way to answering with a productive drive of its own. Reza spotted Ellington along the Tigers’ sideline for a 46-yard completion, setting Patterson up at the Yellowjackets’ 35.  Senior Jacob Priester (right) gives injured wide receiver Ronyea Ellington a hug after the final seconds of the football team's season wound away at Hilmar on Friday. It would be Ellington’s last reception of the season. The junior wide out limped off the field after the following play, grimacing in discomfort. And although he made several attempts along the sideline to walk on the injured ankle, it was obvious that a return to the game was doubtful. Jameson snared a 31-yard pass over the middle of Patterson’s defense to put Hilmar up 14-0 in the second quarter. Patterson back Emmanuel Brooks responded with the Tigers’ only score of the game, a 63-yard tear up the right sideline and into the end zone for a touchdown and a 14-7 halftime score. “Yard for yard, we were evenly matched at halftime,” Cozart said. “They just had the bigger plays. “We seemed depleted. And they came out in the second half and just turned their focus to ramming it down our throat.” Hilmar began the second half at its own 35-yard line, where it pieced together an eight-play drive capped off by Ewing’s second rushing score of the game. Ewing (19 carries, 126 yards) later added two more touchdowns to Hilmar’s lead, and the Yellowjackets eventually turned a close game at halftime into a romp. “Our strength is our speed,” Cozart said. “They took that out of our game by basically forcing us to run a goal line defense the entire second half. “They just wore us down in the end.” With Reza forced to throw the ball with time wasting away in the fourth quarter, Hilmar’s frontline defenders teed off on the quarterback while its secondary sat back and anticipated errant passes.  Varsity cheerleader Crissy Jara wipes the tears from the eyes of the Tigers' Larry Taylor after the loss. “We just didn’t catch the breaks, and we didn’t have solid play across the board,” Cozart said. “The little things just really added up.” Contact Marc Aceves at 892-6187 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
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