Freshman quarterback’s late-game heroics lead Clayton Valley to gutsy road win over Liberty

BRENTWOOD – When Clayton Valley senior quarterback Tyson Lovett left the game with an injury late in the second quarter of Friday’s game against Liberty, the Ugly Eagles didn’t panic. 

The Concord school rallied around freshman quarterback Javale Jones, who led Clayton Valley on a 10-play, 78-yard game-winning drive in the final minutes of the fourth quarter that ended with an 18-yard touchdown pass to tight end Logan Knapp to beat Liberty 21-17 on the road. 

“For a freshman, I’ve never seen anything like that,” said Clayton Valley coach Nick Tisa. “He only got 40%, maybe even 30%, of the reps during the week. But he mentally prepares like he’s going in at any point. 

“We talk about next man up and that just affirms what we do here at Clayton Valley.”

In essentially two quarters of play, Jones completed 4 of 6 passes for 45 yards and a score while adding 18 yards rushing. 

“It was my time to shine,” Jones said. “I had to step up for Tyson when he went down and get this win.”

Star Liberty running back Jaxon Bell scored his two touchdowns in the first half – a 50-yard scoring grab and 39-yard sideline burst to the house – to give Liberty a 14-6 lead at halftime. 

The Brentwood school got the ball to start the third quarter, but Clayton Valley’s defense forced a crucial three-and-out to stifle Liberty’s chance to extend its lead. 

On the ensuing possession, Clayton Valley marched down the field in 12 plays that was capped off by a four-yard touchdown run by senior running back Justin Underwood. 

“Man, I just saw a really big hole,” Underwood said of his touchdown run. 

With the Ugly Eagles down two points, Clayton Valley trotted out what looked like its field-goal unit. 

But it was just a disguise as the Ugly Eagles shifted all but two players to the left sideline. When the ball was snapped, Logan Remington threw a screen pass to Knapp, who ran behind a wall of blockers to convert the two-point try and tie the score at 14 with just under four minutes to go in the third.

After a quiet start to the second half, Liberty found its rhythm again in the fourth quarter. 

The Lions strung together a solid nine-play drive that ended with a 21-yard field goal by kicker Ezekiel Carreno that gave them a 17-14 advantage with 3:36 left in the game.

With Clayton Valley needing a score, the offense turned to Jones to make plays. Up until Clayton Valley’s final drive, the offense had yet to complete a pass. Jones’ first two attempts fell incomplete in the third quarter. 

On a crucial third-down-and-long play, Jones completed a 14-yard throw – the first completion of the night – to tight end Tony Keck to keep the drive alive. 

Minutes later, on another third-down attempt, Jones found Keck again, this time for seven yards that put Clayton Valley in Liberty territory. 

Clayton Valley found itself in another third-down situation, needing nine yards to get a first down. The Lions looked to have made a stop as Jones scrambled a yard short of the first-down marker, but a late hit by a defender incited a penalty marker for unnecessary roughness and moved Clayton Valley to the 18-yard line. 

The call was met with boos from the home crowd as many on Liberty’s sideline believed there was no malicious contact after the play.

“I didn’t see the hit out of bounds, but my coaches told me it was kind of ridiculous because if anything he was helping (the quarterback) back up,” said Liberty coach Mike Cable. “But they threw the flag. There should be no contact there, especially in a situation like that. So you can’t complain about the call.” 

On the very next play, Jones made the play of the night. 

Scrambling to his left, he looked like he was going to tuck the ball and try to run down the sideline. But at the last minute, he saw Knapp running open in the back of the end zone and threw it where only the 6-foot-4 tight end could grab it. 

“I saw the defensive ends crash outside,” Jones said. “I felt the pressure and I stepped up and Tony Keck was just wide open. I had to give him the ball.”

Down four points, Liberty had just over a minute to march 56 yards and score a touchdown to win the game, but Clayton Valley’s defense made sure that didn’t happen. 

The Ugly Eagles forced a fumble that was recovered by junior Alec Hernandez with 40 seconds left. 

Ball game. 

While Tisa has thrown Jones into games sporadically throughout the season, he even admitted he was surprised that the freshman had as much poise as he did during the team’s game-winning drive. 

“I did not expect this,” Tisa said. “It’s just so dynamic what he could do. I’m really proud of him, but I didn’t say much to him. It’s just what we expect here.” 

For Liberty, the defeat was a big blow to the players and coaches. The Lions pulled away in tight games against Amador Valley and Tracy in the last two weeks, but couldn’t get the stops necessary to overcome early second-half struggles on offense.

“This is extremely disappointing,” Cable said. “To have this game kind of swing momentum the way it did and to lose in this fashion like we did hurts.”

Clayton Valley (3-2) heads into a bye week before starting league play against Las Lomas on Oct. 11. Liberty (3-2) is slated to start league play next week at Antioch.