SACRAMENTO – It was the calm before the storm before kickoff, as the football teams from Whitney and El Camino high schools faced each other in a crucial Capital Athletic League conference game last Thursday night.

For the Eagles, it was a must win to keep up with the Wildcats and Antelope. For Whitney, it was to maintain their position in the conference.

Furthermore, the game came down to strategy, as the Wildcats slipped away with a 13-10 victory.

With two games remaining, Whitney will have to stay focused before its final regular-season matchup with Antelope. Although Cordova has just one win this year, they’ve only been shut out once.

The Lancers have four players ranked in the top five in league in offensive statistics. Quarterback Zach Tapia is No. 3 in passing with Lorenzo Bermedez and Dmitre Jones tabbed as No. 2 and No. 4 in receiving, respectively.

Senior running back Michael McNeil stands at No. 4; Whitney’s Kwane Wilkinson holds down the No. 5 spot.

On defense, Cordova’s Grant Johnson is the No. 5 tackler in the CAL and Lamont Guidry is tied with the Wildcats’ Joshua Gallofin for the No. 2 spot in interceptions.

In Whitney’s game against El Camino, turnovers kept Whitney from breaking the game open in the early going.

On their first offensive possession, a Whitney drive was interrupted when quarterback Drew Romo overthrew receiver Andre Scott and the ball was intercepted. The result was a pick-six and after the extra point the Eagles were up 7-0.

With a little more than a minute left in the first quarter, the ‘Cats went on another drive led by Wilkinson. The march downfield was capped by Nolan Squyres’ 3-yard touchdown run, but a missed PAT allowed the Eagles to maintain a 7-6 lead.

El Camino widened that lead to 10-6 when the Eagles intercepted another Romo pass, which led to a field goal to end the first half.

“I was just over thinking it out there,” said Romo on his first-half performance, “I was anxious and I couldn’t recognize the coverage they were throwing at me. Coach told me that I (shouldn’t) hurt my team like that.”

Coming out in the third quarter, Whitney dodged a dagger when Kris Corpus intercepted an El Camino pass in the end zone. That seemed to give the Wildcats momentum.

Wilkinson again rushed for big gains to help put the maroon-and-gold on the Eagles 1-yard line. Romo then connected with tight end Jason Brunet for the TD.

“I relaxed there in the second half and started to make the right reads and plays,” said Romo.

The point-after kick gave Whitney its 13-10 margin of victory with 3:38 left in the third period.

In the fourth quarter, Gallofin intercepted an El Camino pass to kill an Eagles’ drive at the 7:05 mark. The Whitney ground attack then went to work to run time off the clock.

Wilkinson picked up 53 of his 129 total yards on the drive, running behind lineman Geno Chiarpotti and company. Chiarpotti was picked as Whitney’s lineman of the week for his performance against El Camino.

Wilkinson was running at nearly 100 percent following a knee injury suffered earlier in the season.

“I didn’t just want to leave us hanging,” Wilkinson said, “I wanted us to make the playoffs and wanted us to do well.”

El Camino didn’t get the ball back until time had run down to 19 seconds. The Regal Birds tried a hook-and-ladder play, but the Whitney defense stuffed it as time expired.

“Kwane is getting back to his old self; the (offensive) line played well, Drew played well,” said head coach Mike Gimenez. “We almost ran it out there at the end. Defensively, we are finally playing together, trusting each other out there in our ability.”

Source: http://www.lincolnnewsmessenger.com/article/whitney-gets-el-camino-stay-cal-hunt