In a game that featured 98 points and 916 yards of total offense, it was a defensive play that decided matters.
Kearny High School’s Zaiden Gravely intercepted a pass with three seconds to play to preserve the Komets’ 50-48 win against San Diego Southwest Friday night on the Komets’ homecoming.
The kicker? It was Gravely’s first defensive play of the season. With Southwest perched on the Komets’ 45 and only 10 seconds to play, Gravely, Kearny’s leading wide receiver, convinced Kearny’s defensive coordinator to let him play defense.
Said Gravely, “I said, ‘Coach, put me in. I know I can make something happen.’ ”
And he did, picking off freshman Isaac Munoz’s desperation pass.
Asked what passed through his mind while the ball was in the air, Gravely said, “Lord, please let me catch this ball. Come down with it and let’s win this game.’”
On the offensive side, Gravely caught four passes for 107 yards and touchdowns covering 79 and six yards.
But the offensive hero for the Komets was senior quarterback Brodie Stump. Despite his receivers dropping two first-quarter passes that almost certainly would have been TDs, Stump completed 23 of 41 passes for 411 yards and five touchdowns.
The TD passes covered 73, 71, 14, 6 and 20 yards.
“He makes us look better than we sometimes are,” said Kearny head coach Jeremy Stump of his son. “The kid’s a player.”
A four-year starter, Stump has thrown for 7,885 yards in his career and 87 TDs. According to the CIF San Diego Section record book, the passing yards rank 8th all-time and the touchdowns fifth.
Said Stump, “Our offense’s motto is score every time we have the ball.”
For a while, it looked like the team that had the ball last would win.
“That’s what I was thinking,” said Jeremy Stump.
Southwest (3-3) scored TDs on its first four second-half possessions. Kearny (4-2) scored TDs on its three second-half possessions. The Komets also scored on Jayvon Peterson’s 84-yard third-quarter kickoff return.
Another irony to the game? Kearny attempted 41 passes and ran the ball just nine times. But it was a running play that provided the deciding points. Facing fourth-and-four on the Southwest 13, Stump stumped the Southwest defense, handing the ball to sophomore Jaylen Hill. Hill burst up the middle and barreled into the end zone with 26 seconds to play.
The Komets won despite starting slow, trailing 15-0.
“This is a young team,” said Jeremy Stump. “But it showed fight in them. As a coach, that’s all you want to see.”
In his first varsity game, Southwest’s Munoz was superb. He completed 18 of 28 passes for 239 yards and one TD. He scored four rushing touchdowns, all on 1-yard quarterback sneaks.
Munoz was called up from the junior varsity after the starting quarterback suffered an injury.
Of Munoz’s performance, acting head coach Jose Cruz said, “Very impressive.”
Cruz took the place of his son, Dominic Cruz, as head coach because Dominic traveled to Chicago to watch his son graduate from Navy boot camp.
Kearny 50, SD Southwest 48
SD Southwest 15 7 12 14 – 48
Kearny 8 14 6 22 – 50
SW – Cretain 13 pass from Munoz (2 pas to 9)
SW – Munoz 1 run (Garcia kick)
K – Reyes 73 pass from Stump (Hill pass from Stump)
K – Gravely 79 pass from Stump (pass failed)
SW – Munoz 1 run (Garcia kick)
K – Reyes 14 pass from Stump (Stump run)
SW – Davis 1 run (run failed)
K – Peterson 84 kickoff return (run failed)
SW – Munoz 1 run (pass failed)
K – Gravely 6 pass from Stump (Reyes pass from Stump)
SW – Munoz 1 run (pass failed)
K – Jackson 20 pass from Stump (Reyes pass from Stump)
SW – Davis 1 run (Cretain pass from Munoz)
K – Hill 11 run (pass failed)
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