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It's a thriller: CCSF wins state title Ayoob's TD pass caps 95-yard march with 33 seconds left
By: Mitch Stephens, Chronicle Staff Writer
Bakersfield -- Joseph Ayoob's insides couldn't take it any longer.
Ayoob, doubled over, stumbled to the sideline. He had just saved the season with a gritty 20-yard scramble up the middle on fourth down.
"Coach, I think I'm going to throw up," Ayoob told CCSF coach George Rush.
Said Rush: "You can throw up in 15 seconds, now get out there."
Two plays later, Ayoob finished off the brilliant 95-yard march, avoiding a heavy rush from his right, scrambling left and finding Ruben Jackson in the back left corner of the end zone with 33 seconds left as CCSF won its fourth state championship game in five years, a 38-35 thriller over Grossmont at Bakersfield College.
Antwon Guidry, who had six catches for 120 yards including a circus 25- yard TD reception on the first play of the second quarter, intercepted a Jordan Adams pass on Grossmont's final drive to seal one of the most exiting state title games ever.
Players on both sides wept after this emotional roller coaster.
It also made Rush, who just completed his 27th season, forget a state title game he lost by the same score to Mt. San Antonio College in 1997. A game featuring 1,003 yards and 45 first downs will do that.
CCSF running back Tim Brown (26 carries, 157 yards, one touchdown) was the game's MVP and Ayoob (23-of-36, 304 yards, four TDs, 37 yards rushing) was the offensive player of the game. Too bad only 1,281 got to see it at Memorial Stadium, which seats 20,000.
"A game like this proves California junior college football is the best- kept secret around," Rush said. "In terms of great plays, wild swings and a frantic finish, that may be the best game I've ever been associated with."
It certainly turned some stomachs.
The Rams (12-0) squandered an early 21-0 lead due largely to Adams, who came off the bench to complete 18 of 29 passes for 347 yards and three long second-half touchdowns, the last of 59 yards to of all people, CCSF transfer Joe Griffin.
It gave Grossmont (13-1) its first lead of the game, 35-31, and came against the state's leading defense that came in allowing 142 yards per game. Grossmont finished with 505 yards, 450 of it through the air.
"We had guys in position, but Grossmont kids just made plays -- that's why they're here," Rush said.
The middle of CCSF's defensive line made one huge play, setting up the game-winning drive. On 3rd-and-3 from the Rams' 47, K.J. Walker was stopped for no gain. Grossmont was forced to punt, pinning CCSF back on its own 5 with 6:33 to play.
Ayoob, who started the season on the bench behind Kansas-bound starter Jason Swanson, gathered the offense for a pep talk. He took the starter's job in the sixth game of the season when Swanson got hurt and never relinquished it.
"I just told them this is us, this is the season, this is how we'll be remembered," Ayoob said. "I said, 'Do we want to be remembered as an 11-1 team that came up short or a champion?' "
The impassioned plea evidently fired up Brown, who ripped off gains of 26 and 23 yards, eventually moving the ball to the Grossmont 29. An Ayoob incompletion made it 4th-and-5 and Rush called his final timeout with 2:09 left.
"If we don't get a first down our season is over," Brown said. "We needed something big."
Ayoob answered, scrambling out of the pocket, racing up the middle and leaping through two would-be tacklers near the 25. He somehow maintained his balance and sprinted all the way to the 9.
"That's why we call him the white Michael Vick," Jackson said.
Said Ayoob: "I saw a space and just went for it."
Said Rush: "That was as big as the touchdown. If he doesn't make that play, we don't make the touchdown."
On the winning score, Ayoob, a strong but mobile 6-foot-3, 200-pounder, bought time while moving left. When the defensive backs thought he might run they left Jackson all by himself. It was Jackson's sixth catch for 114 yards and second TD.
"When I saw (Jackson) I thought, 'Oh crap, he was wide open,' " Ayoob said. "I just dinked their heads and he made the catch."
"You can watch football for 50 years and never see a better drive," said Rush of the game-winning, 12-play drive. "What a gutsy effort. What a play. What a game."
CCSF scored on its first three possessions, driving 80, 93 and 37 yards to take a 21-0 lead.
Ayoob completed nine of his first 10 passes for 168 yards and three touchdowns.
He came out throwing from the get-go, tossing a 46-yard pass down the left side to Guidry. After a short run and motion penalty, Ayoob found Jackson down the middle for a 35-yard touchdown.
The Rams took a more methodical route on their second drive, going 14 plays, capped on a 5-yard TD pass to Galileo graduate Marcel Love, making it 14-0 with 2:39 left in the first quarter.
A sack by Justin Johnson pinned Grossmont back on its own 1 and after a short punt, CCSF had to go just 37 yards on three plays, capped by the play of the day, a leaping 25-yard TD reception by Guidry.
Grossmont's 5-9 defensive back John Guice had perfect position on the fade pattern, but the 6-foot Guidry leaped over him and snatched the ball away.
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With the seesaw contest, a perfect season and the California state junior college championship on the line Saturday afternoon, the City College of San Francisco quarterback had driven his team 86 yards to the Grossmont 9-yard line with less than a minute to play and no timeouts.
