WATSONVILLE >> Alvarez High’s football team went for the tie and gave Monte Vista Christian School the win in the teams’ high-scoring thriller Friday night.

Alvarez’s Aiden Jones scored on a 2-yard pass play with 12 seconds left, but the Eagles missed their extra-point kick, which would’ve tied the score at 35-all, and the Mustangs escaped with a 42-34 upset in the teams’ Pacific Coast Athletic League crossover game.

It was a huge win for the Mustangs, who compete in the B-rated Mission North Division. Alvarez competes in the A-rated Gabilan Division.

“I don’t care if they’re Mater Dei,” said senior quarterback Dominic Pierini, of playing a higher ranked opponent. “They’re Gabilan, cool. We’re Monte Vista, so we’re going to do what we got to do.”

After MVC was penalized for players leaving their sideline in a joyous celebration after the missed extra-point kick, the Eagles attempted an onside kick and the Mustangs senior Gunner Sorensen returned it 60 yards for a touchdown with 4 seconds remaining.

“It’s weird, because when you lose a game like this, you want to flush it and just forget about it and move on,” said Mustangs coach Spencer Ferrari-Wood said. “When you win, you want to say, ‘Hey, we can do this.’ You want to relish in these moments and use that to propel us forward. And we’re hoping it does.”

It was Sorensen’s first touchdown this season and the second of his varsity career.

“I just saw the ball make the right bounce, and I just thought, ‘Screw it, I’ll just go for it,’ and I ran it all the way back,” he said. “I’ve never ran that hard in my life.”

The Mustangs opened and closed scoring with kickoff returns for scores. Jordan Ramirez, the lone sophomore on MVC’s squad, returned the opening kickoff 90 yards for a score. He also recorded a pair of interceptions.

MVC also scored on its first offensive play. Pierini connected with receiver Nate Collins for an 80-yard touchdown.

“I’m just really proud of our players,” Ferrari-Wood said. “I think players win games and coaches lose them, and the players won this game, even despite some bad calls from myself on the coaching sideline. They fought really hard.”

Pierini, who holds pretty much every major passing record in Santa Cruz County, had another huge game, as did his go-to receiver, senior Nico Downie.

“It means a lot,” Downie said of the win. “A lot of the times it feels like we’re losing these types of games. To finally come on top in one of them, it’s a great feeling.”

Pierini said it took every member of the Mustangs’ roster to earn the victory.

Pierini finished 27-of-39 passing for 442 yards and three touchdowns. Two of those touchdown passes went to Downie, who hauled in 12 passes for 217 yards.

“I just have great play-makers around me,” the quarterback said. “They make it easy for me.”

Max Arce also scored on a 1-yard run.

Pierini was sacked five times and the Mustangs finished with minus-32 yards rushing.

Alvarez’s Said Zidez was part of four of the sacks, Isaiah Camacho and Edgar Chavez were each part of two sacks.

The teams combined for 907 yards on offense.

Alvarez, behind its big, bruising offensive front, rushed for 339 yards and passed for 158.

“These are the toughest types of games when it’s just a shootout,” Downie said. “It’s almost just a mental battle. It’s just great to come on top. I think this game we’re going to go back to and remember just how we found our strength and were able to overcome all the adversity and injuries and able to come out on top.”

Alavrez was led by running back Roman Garcia, who finished with 31 carries for a career-high 329 yards and three touchdowns. The speedy and shifty back took advantage his team’s blocking and sub-par tackling. He scored on runs of 56, 7, and 54 yards.

“At the end of the day, it’s just capitalizing on errors,” Garcia said. “We had some errors that we could’ve capitalized on and did better. That’s all it is. Next we have to work on that and get better. We had a great game, both teams.”

Eagles quarterback Abel Bailon completed 11 of his 22 passes and threw a pair of touchdown passes. He connected with Cash Barrientos from 68 yards out early and Jones from 2 yards out late.

Alvarez’s success moving the ball made Ramirez’s two interceptions all the more important. MVC forced the Eagles to punt twice, and forced a turnover on downs with a solid defensive stand with 4:18 remaining in the fourth quarter.

“They showed up when they needed to,” Pierini said of the Mustangs’ defense. “That’s all that matters.”

MVC’s Jacob Wong and Dima Bieliaiev combined for a sack.

The Mustangs (2-2) look to add to their momentum when they play at Watsonville on Sept. 28 at 7:30 p.m. to open Mission North play.

“Momentum is a son of a gun,” Ferrari-Wood said. “When you got it, you want to keep it. And when you’ve lost it, it’s hard to get it back. We want to utilize this, have a great Monday film session, great Tuesday at practice and so forth.”

Soledad 42, Santa Cruz 3

SOLEDAD >> Anderson Hernandez booted a 29-yard field goal late in the fourth quarter, and the Cardinals avoided being shut out in the their PCAL crossover game.

The Cardinals (0-4) compete in the C-rated Santa Lucia Division and the Aztecs (2-2) compete in the B-rated Mission South Division.

The Aztecs busted loose for a couple long touchdown runs.

“Soledad did a good job of being physical and capitalizing on our mistakes,” said Cardinals coach Sergio Escobar. “We learned we have to take care of the details better.”

Santa Cruz hosts Gonzales (2-2) in the teams’ division opener on Sept. 28 at 5 p.m.