Led by quarterback Aaron Dorfler’s 179 passing yards and three touchdowns, the varsity football team defeated rival Tamalpais High School 33-27 on Saturday afternoon to improve their record to 2-2 for the season.
After three quarters of back and forth touchdowns, Redwood finally prevailed over the Hawks in their Homecoming game after Dorfler threw a seven-yard dart to sophomore running back Kyle Fulton.
“There was no one to block so I leaked out and luckily it came to me,” Fulton said.
Before Fulton scored the game-winning touchdown, Redwood’s offense had to march 52 yards in the final two minutes against Tam’s defense, which held the Giants’ offense to 25 points.
The final drive started off with an incomplete pass to senior Kevin Reis after Dorfler had been pressured out of the pocket by Tam’s defensive line. Dorfler then walked back to the sideline where he received the next play from head coach Corky Henderson.
The next play was a five-yard completion to senior tight end Tristan Pulver, who in the following play gained ten yards on a crucial third and five to keep the possession alive.
After two consecutive dropped passes by senior Sean Stauffer, it was third and ten with just a little more than a minute left in the game. While the thunderous Tamalpais fans chanted, “De-fense, de-fense!”Redwood lined up for the play.
Dorfler received the snap from senior Patrick Quinn and then dropped back and found Fulton cutting across the field and hit him. Fulton needed 10 yards to keep the game alive, but he thwarted multiple tacklers to gain 12 yards on the play.
On the ensuing first down, Dorfler found Reis for 15 yards and the first down. After seven consecutive passes, Henderson decided to shake things up, with a hand-off to sophomore running back Jaquez Sweeney.
Sweeney was in after senior Joe Kasselik re-injured his left ankle while making a cut during the second half. Sweeney was slammed to the ground by a cluster of Tam defenders after picking up three yards.
After an incomplete pass on second and seven, Redwood lined up with 27 seconds left on the clock for one of their last chances to win the game in regulation.
Coach Henderson decided to go for a two-point conversion after kicker Jakob Rasmussen had missed on both of his previous attempts during the game. The two-point conversion was good after Dorfler ran it in to make the score 33-27.
Ever since Redwood’s first football coach Bob Troppman and the Giants upset the then-Tamalpais Indians in the 1962 MCAL football finals, there has been strong competition between the two schools.
“It’s just an emotional game because we know each other and we all just want to get the best of them,” said senior Joe Kasselik while talking about the rivalry.
Strong offensive performances came from Kasselik, who gained 144 all-purpose yards and one touchdown, Fulton with 24 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns, and Dorfler, who threw for 179 yards and scored three touchdowns.
On the defensive side, Redwood was led by sophomore Nick Calzaretta, who had one interception, and Arizona commit Alex Kosinski, who had one sack for a loss of seven yards.
Redwood will next play at San Marin on Oct. 2.
