Elijah Hensley was willing to pay the price.
With Moorpark High trailing by one point with 19 seconds left, the quarterback plunged into traffic and landed in a pile of bodies at the goal line.
“It hurt,” Hensley said. “But I did it.”
After a 15-second deliberation, the referees awarded the decisive two-point conversion, thus perfecting their legendary 42-41 comeback victory against Rio Mesa in the season opener on Friday evening.
“It took forever,” Hensley said. “I was lying on the ground. I was just thinking ‘please’ … I’m dead. I’m tired. After that, I had nothing left in the tank.”
Hensley completed 10 of 17 passes for 156 yards and two touchdowns and scored three touchdowns to lead Moorpark (1-0), which scored on its final five possessions after trailing 21-7 in the first half.
“He just symbolizes what our program is about,” Moorpark coach Ryan Huisenga said. “He may not look great at times, but we’re going to fight until there’s no time left on the clock.”
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That attempt thwarted a herculean effort by Rio Mesa’s JJ Bittner, who totaled 394 yards on offense and scored five points.
“(Bittner) was outstanding,” Huisenga said. “He did a great job. I don’t know when we’ll ever see someone like him again. Hopefully never.”
The experienced quarterback completed 16 of 21 passes for 320 yards and three touchdowns and ran for 103 yards and two scores on 12 attempts.
“It’s a shame because I thought our guys fought really hard. I thought they deserved the win,” Rio Mesa coach Jim Bittner said after the game. “JJ played pretty well.”
Noah Ramos caught six passes for 142 yards and a touchdown, Abel Ramos caught four passes for 119 yards and two touchdowns, Isaiah Bautista ran for 100 yards on 16 attempts and Victor Lopez, normally a linebacker, ran for a goal-line touchdown for the Spartans (0-1).
“Hats off to all those guys, I thought they played great,” Huisenga said. “They came right at us and threw the first few punches. That threw us off a little bit.”
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Moorpark managed to win despite allowing 536 total yards of offense. The Musketeers had a more than 250-yard advantage.
“That’s how it works in football,” said JJ Bittner. “Every centimeter counted.”
Senior Jayden Gray was able to make up for much of that field position deficit by returning several kickoffs into Rio Mesa territory.
“I was excited about our kickoff and return team tonight,” Huisenga said. “They did a great job.”
Bittner hit Noah Ramos with a 69-yard touchdown pass and Abel Ramos with a 24-yard touchdown pass as Rio Mesa built a 21-7 lead with 6:54 left in the first half.
Hensley’s touchdowns before and after halftime cut the deficit to 21-20 Moorpark. After another Bittner pass to Abel Ramos, Wyatt Davidson’s 5-yard touchdown run cut Moorpark’s lead to 27-26 after three quarters.
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“Our guys just never stopped fighting,” Huisenga said. “We’re super proud of our guys.”
Bittner’s 5-yard touchdown run, shortly after he overran a linebacker to convert a third-and-7, and the resulting PAT increased the lead to 41-34 with just 3:07 left to play.
After Gray returned the ensuing kickoff to Moorpark’s 45-yard line, Hensley drove Moorpark 55 yards in 10 plays.
“Honestly, we wanted to run the clock down as much as possible,” Huisenga said. “We’re not giving the ball back to JJ.”
Just when it looked like Rio Mesa was going to tie the game with an interception, Moorpark receiver Tyler Buckles leapt over a defender and miraculously converted a fourth-and-7 attempt with two minutes left.
“It’s just about never giving up,” Hensley said. “Magic plays happen all the time. That’s just the game of football. You have to live with it.”
Then, on fourth-and-1 from the Rio Mesa 3 with 22 seconds left, Hensley rolled right and found Buckles again for a 3-yard touchdown pass.
“It just gives me confidence,” Hensley said. “Great quarterbacks are able to put their team behind and give them the momentum they need. I was able to do that tonight.”
Moorpark led 42-41 with 19 seconds left, but hadn’t finished the job yet. Bittner ran 43 yards unchallenged to set up a Hail Mary attempt that had to be blocked by safety Isaac Velasquez.
“We wanted to give him as little time as possible to have the ball in his hands,” Huisenga said. “Look what he did … he ran and almost got the Hail Mary.”
Joe Curley covers high school, college and professional football for The Star. He can be reached at [email protected]. For more coverage, follow @vcspreps on Twitter/XInstagram/Threads, Facebook and TikTok.
