Bishop Diego football’s non-league clash with Etiwanda High on Friday night came down to the wire and ended in a 28-28 tie.
The matchup wrapped up the Cardinals’ (3-1-1) non-league schedule, as they will now head into their bye week.
The Etiwanda Eagles got out to a hot start at home, scoring two unanswered touchdowns to begin the first quarter and take a 14-0 lead.
Bishop Diego got on the scoreboard thanks to a 1-yard touchdown pass from Tua Rojas to Gabe Villa to cut the deficit to 14-7 with 6:27 left in the first half.
The Cardinals then got a turnover thanks to a Sam Crawford interception and they immediately turned that into points with Villa ripping off a 42-yard touchdown run.
However, the Eagles tacked on another touchdown to take a 21-14 lead into halftime.
Coming out of the half, Bishop Diego struck first and knotted the game up at 21-21 on a 53-yard bomb touchdown from Rojas to Nick Malesky.
Once again Etiwanda answered with a score of its own on a touchdown run to go up 28-21, a score that held through the end of the third quarter.
The Cardinals tied the game up once again on a 32-yard touchdown pass from Rojas to Isaiah Kitt with 10:52 left on the clock.
The Eagles then drove down the field but Bishop Diego got a huge turnover thanks to an interception by Kitt at the Cardinals’ 15-yard line.
With eight minutes left in the game, Bishop Diego turned to its rushing attack and milked the clock while marching down the field.
With eight seconds left and on 3rd down, the Cardinals ran out the kicking unit. However, Etiwanda blocked the field-goal attempt and the clock ran down from there to end regulation in a tie.
As a non-league contest, the coaches have the decision to end the game in a tie or send it to overtime.
Although Bishop Diego coach Tom Crawford voted for overtime, Etiwanda head coach Nick Baiz opted for the game to end. Per CIF rules, the game will end in a tie if there is not an agreement between both teams.