In an instant classic — and an early contender for Game of the Year — St. Vincent rallied for a stunning 27-21 comeback win at American Canyon on Saturday night in a highly anticipated matchup between the North Bay’s two defending state champions.

The Mustangs scored 20 unanswered points in the final seven minutes of the fourth quarter and sealed the game on an interception with six seconds left.

How it happened

American Canyon (1-1) looked poised to take down the two-time defending state champion Mustangs as the Wolves held a 21-7 lead midway through the fourth quarter. St. Vincent (2-0), which only dressed 19 players for the game due to a slew of injuries in their season opener last week, had been unable to finish off strong drives and had turned the ball over on a fumble in American Canyon territory to start the quarter.

The script flipped quickly on a series of plays that went the Mustangs’ way. First, American Canyon’s Isaac Anderson had a 62-yard breakaway touchdown called back due to holding, a play that would have put the Wolves up three scores with eight minutes left. Instead, the Wolves had to punt and the Mustangs took advantage, scoring on a beautifully designed play to get Mason Caturegli wide open for a 27-yard touchdown to make it 21-13 with 5:30 left.

The Mustangs then got another break on a Wolves punt on their ensuing possession. The kick deflected off a blocker and ultimately netted -5 yards, giving St. Vincent the ball at the Wolves’ 31-yard line with just under three minutes to play. The Mustangs needed just three plays to find the end zone again, this time on a four-yard keeper from quarterback Gabe Casanovas. The Wolves, however, made a defensive stand to stop the two-point try and retained the lead at 21-19.

But St. Vincent wasn’t done. Jack Ellis recovered a perfectly executed onside kick at midfield with 2:30 remaining. Ellis stepped up again seven plays later, fighting tooth and nail for a go-ahead 18-yard touchdown with 43 seconds remaining to make it 27-21.

Down to its final possession, American Canyon made a push all the way to the Mustangs’ 37-yard line before defender Brody Breen sealed the win with a diving interception on a tipped pass with just six seconds left, his second pick of the game.

Of their 290 total yards of offense in the game, the Mustangs gained 130 on their final three possessions. Casanovas, whose first throw of the game went for a 45-yard pick-six, completed seven of his final nine attempts to lead the comeback charge. He finished with 160 passing yards on 14-of-21 attempts with two touchdowns and rushed for 74 yards on 17 carries with a score.

Ellis led the team in receiving with 64 yards on five catches with a score and Caturegli had 58 rushing yards on 13 carries, 57 receiving yards on four catches and two total touchdowns.

The Wolves ran for 157 of their 215 rushing yards in the second half. Star running back Andre Lopez led the team with 96 rushing yards on 19 carries but didn’t find the end zone. The Wolves trailed 7-6 at halftime — Evan Paras contributing their score on a 45-yard pick-six to open the game — and then scored twice in the third quarter to take a 21-7 lead into the fourth.

Marcus Hughes, who finished with 22 rushing yards on seven carries, scored a four-yard touchdown early in the third to make it 14-7, and Anderson, who finished with 81 rushing yards on nine carries, scored a six-yard touchdown later in the frame to make 21-7.

Key plays

Too many to count.

Anderson’s called-back 62-yard touchdown in the fourth gave the Mustangs life. As did the deflected punt and the onside kick recovery.

But even with the breaks, it was Breen’s pick with six seconds left that finally put the game to bed.

Quotable

“We have the heart of a champion. We’ve been here and done this and we just kept going. We never doubted ourselves. At halftime we felt pretty good about ourselves; we had two turnovers on the first two plays we had the ball and our kids didn’t give up on each other. They kept fighting. We got kids coming out, hurt, cramping, other guys coming in, we played 17 guys tonight and I’m just so proud of everyone. Proud of our coaches and our team and the effort we played with. They stuck together and they never gave up. My hat’s off to American Canyon. They gave us everything they could for 48 minutes. These types of games, someone has to win and someone has to lose, but it could’ve went either way.” — St. Vincent head coach Trent Herzog

“Coming in, 19 players, a wide receiver moving to right tackle — I just think we have more heart than any other team and our coaching staff gets us ready every single week. I just don’t think a team can beat us right now.” — Breen

“In our heads we all knew this was a game we wanted. Everyone saying we can’t beat the big schools. We really thought about, like, this is the game we’ve been waiting for for three years, this is our big game and we did it. We showed that we can compete with the big guys.” — Ellis

“(This win) shows the talent that this team has, regardless of if we have 50 players suited up or 19 players suited up. We can play with anybody and I think this should give us our respect.” — Casanovas

Takeaways

Like the Mustangs’ players said, this win was more evidence that St. Vincent should be categorized as more than just a good small-school program. They’re a good program, period.

St. Vincent’s rise the last few years has had many wanting to see the Mustangs compete with the larger programs in the North Bay. This year, we’re finally getting to see it. American Canyon has an enrollment of 1,700 students, nearly 10 times the total at St. Vincent.

The Mustangs did win a state championship three divisions higher than the Wolves in 2024, but the school size cannot be overlooked, especially this week with St. Vincent shorthanded.

The Wolves also deserve a ton of credit for pushing the Mustangs to the brink. The Wolves appear poised to once again be a team that can compete for not just a section title but possibly a state title again.

This is also not the last time this season that St. Vincent will face a larger school. The Mustangs will cap off nonleague play Oct. 4 against a traditionally top-tier North Bay program in Rancho Cotate.

What’s next

St. Vincent travels to play at Lowell-San Francisco (0-2) this coming weekend, while American Canyon hosts Benicia (0-2).