Turnovers too much to overcome as Merced High’s comeback bid falls short against Downey

The Merced High football team has the talent to withstand a handful of mistakes throughout a game.

Overcoming four turnovers to a good team like Downey proved to be too much for the Bears on Friday night.

Merced battled back from three early interceptions to tie the Knights late in the fourth quarter, but the Knights answered with a long touchdown and the Bears fumbled the ensuing kickoff as Downey emerged with a 48-34 win at Cathie Hostetler Stadium.

“It’s just what we expected,” said Knights coach Jeremy Plaa, whose team improved to 3-0 this season. “Coach (Rob) Scheidt and his staff are incredible. Every year this is the one we kind of look forward to as a coaching staff, because we know that it’s going to go back and forth.”

The Bears (1-2) had an awful start as Downey intercepted quarterback Quintell Dupree three times in Merced’s first four possessions.

Knights sophomore Elias Haynes returned the first interception on the third play of the game 27 yards for a touchdown to give Downey an 8-0 lead.

Merced then drove into the red zone on its next possession, but Knights linebacker Daley Holmes intercepted a Dupree pass to stop the drive.

Downey turned the takeaway into points as quarterback Carson Lamb connected with receiver Ethan Woodmansee for a 24-yard touchdown pass to extend the lead to 15-0 with 4:39 left in the first quarter.

It was the start of a big night for Lamb and Woodmansee as they connected on four touchdown passes. Woodmansee finished with five catches for 174 yards to go with the four touchdowns. Lamb completed 22 of 31 passes for 265 yards.

“I think we have a great connection,” Woodmansee said. “I think all of our receivers and Carson have a good connection. We’re a big pass-heavy team.”

The Bears battled back, gashing the Knights with a strong ground attack.

Dupree bounced back and finished with 20 carries for 109 yards, including touchdown runs of 30 and 13 yards.

Senior running back Adarius Morales-Saetern also delivered big plays, rushing for 120 yards and two touchdowns on 20 carries.

The Bears were chasing the Knights all night and finally pulled even at 34-34 with a Morales-Saetern 19-yard touchdown run with 4:21 left in the game.

Scheidt applauded the fight he saw from his team.

“I really felt like we had a great game plan going in,” Scheidt said. “We didn’t always execute that, but I think what I liked is, especially in our run game, our guys reflected on how we practiced this week. So those things are starting to happen. If we can protect the football, I think we’re going to be in good shape.”

After the Bears pulled even, the Lamb-Woodmansee duo struck again for a 46-yard touchdown pass to give the Knights a 41-34 lead with 2:53 left on the clock.

On the ensuing kickoff, two Merced players bumped into each other trying to catch the ball and Downey was able to pounce on the muffed kickoff. Haynes then put the game away with a 24-yard touchdown run to finish off the 48-34 victory.

“Carson had a great night,” Plaa said. “I have no idea what the stats were, but the offense bailed us out whenever they needed to bail us out.”