Villa Park Holds Off Valencia Comeback : Prep football: Tony D’Amato’s diving interception with a minute left preserves the Spartans’ 30-26 victory.

Villa Park’s Tony D’Amato, sucking for air, finally smiled. He had endured.

“We went three-hour practices, twice a day for 12 days,” D’Amato said. “All to play three minutes of football.”

And survive.

D’Amato, exhausted from overwork, made one last effort. His diving interception with a minute left preserved a 30-26 nonleague victory over Valencia Friday Night at El Modena High School.

Not even he knew how the Spartans had pulled it off.

“We were so tired, but we had to keep playing and playing,” D’Amato said. “We just had to take it.”

They did, outlasting a Valencia team that kept applying pressure. The Spartans (1-0) kept getting room to breathe and Chris Draft kept tapping them on the solar plexus.

Draft had three fourth-quarter touchdowns. He scored on runs of 34 and two yards, and took a screen pass 28 yards for a touchdown. Each time it pulled the Tigers within a touchdown of victory.

They got one more chance, when Villa Park tailback Grant Pearsall fumbled with two minutes left, giving Valencia the ball on its 45.

“That was scary,” Villa Park linebacker Justin McCully said. “We thought we were done for the night, then we had to go back out there and stop them.”

Valencia quarterback Rob Petko, who threw for 274 yards and a touchdown, took his last shot. He moved the Tigers to the Villa Park 39. But, on third and 11, his pass was deflected by Bryan Choate and D’Amato made his leap of faith.

“I grabbed it and squeezed,” D’Amato said.

It ended a game the Spartans seemed to have well in hand. They led, 16-0, at halftime and 16-6 through three quarters.

Pearsall and the defense did most of the work.

Pearsall finished with 131 yards in 24 carries and scored three touchdowns. He blew through a big hole for a 29-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, then went 33 yards for another score in the fourth quarter.

“Every time he touches the ball, he’s a threat to make a big play,” Villa Park Coach Pat Mahoney said. “Just like Draft.”

Draft, though, was hemmed in through the first half. The Spartan defense chased him left and right, limiting him to 27 yards in the first half.

“He’s such a great back that you’re in awe,” said McCully, who had two sacks. “Then the game starts and animosity takes over.”

It was back to awe in the second half. Draft finished with 100 yards and caught four passes for 70 yards.

On his 34-yard touchdown run, he broke one tackle then carried a defender piggyback the final five yards.

“Somebody missed an assignment on that play,” Mahoney said. “‘We’ll catch it on the films. We can laugh about it then.”

Mahoney was anything but smiles through the fourth quarter. Petko picked his secondary apart, completing 20 of 34 passes for the game--usually two weeks’ work for a Valencia quarterback.

But the Spartan defense twice held on the Tigers on downs inside the 35 and stopped another drive by forcing a fumble.