Yates Leads Fremont to Title Game

Two things can be said about Fremont quarterback William Yates.

One, he doesn’t lack confidence.

And two, he is hard to stop whenever he has the ball.

Yates passed for 147 yards and a touchdown and ran for 86 yards and two touchdowns to lead Fremont to a 28-21 win over Washington in a City Section 3-A semifinal game Friday night at Fremont.

Fremont (11-2) advances to the championship game for the first time in 43 years. The Pathfinders will face San Pedro, which beat Reseda, 17-0, on Friday.

“I knew we had the game won the whole time,” Yates said. “I just didn’t know the score. We have the heart and desire to beat anyone.”

Yates threw a 31-yard pass to George Jacobs for Fremont’s first touchdown. He also scored on a one-yard run and a 27-yard run, which put the Pathfinders ahead, 28-14, with 5:24 left.

“We tried to corral him with our defense, but we had breakdowns in the middle,” Washington Coach Ed Johnson said. “He did what they needed.”

After Fremont scored its last touchdown, the Pathfinders nearly got a safety when Washington’s Jim McElroy ran to the two-yard line on a kickoff return. After a penalty pushed the ball back to the one, McElroy burst through the line and ran 99 yards for a touchdown to cut the Generals’ deficit to seven.

In addition to catching balls for touchdowns this season, McElroy proved he could also throw scoring passes. He threw a 50-yard touchdown pass to John Grissom to tie the score at 14.

“Our job was to stop (McElroy),” Fremont linebacker Carl Biedman said. “He was their whole offense.”

Fremont’s defense, nicknamed the suicide squad, did a good job of it in the first half, denying McElroy a single reception.

Washington got the ball back three plays after McElroy’s 99-yard score at the Fremont 40. Washington quarterback Amar Brisco kept the drive going with a 14-yard run on fourth-and-10.

After two incomplete passes, Brisco ran four yards to the 22. But on fourth-and-six, Brisco scrambled to catch a bad snap and threw an incomplete pass with 43 seconds left.

“We had plenty of time left,” Johnson said. “There was no reason why that ball should have been snapped over the quarterback’s head. We weren’t trying to put the ball in the end zone. We were going for a first down.”

The Generals had a tough time containing Yates.

On third-and-seven from the Washington 41-yard line, the Generals had Fremont receivers well-covered, but Yates ran 27 yards for a first down.

Two plays later, Yates threw a seven-yard sideline pass to Jacobs, who shook free from Charles Wainwright and ran another 24 yards for a touchdown with 6:57 left in the half.

Fremont got the ball back when Alex Puryear kicked a line drive off the leg of lineman Duron Cox. Puryear recovered the fumble at their 48, but the Pathfinders failed to capitalize.

The Generals, who have had trouble offensively all season, got a break on defense when linebacker Greg Gales stole the ball from Yates and ran to the Fremont 25. Four plays later, Brisco scored on a 18-yard quarterback sneak to make the score 7-6 at halftime.

*

Records: Washington 8-5, Fremont 11-2.

Next week: Fremont vs. San Pedro.