Font ResizePittsburg High's Craijon Menefee scored on a 1-yard run on fourth down with 2:55 to go to lift Contra Costa County over Alameda County 23-20 on Saturday in the Holiday Classic All-Star football game.
Menefee's game-winning touchdown came in a downpour at Pittsburg High.
Contra Costa built a 16-0 lead in the second quarter before seeing Alameda come back to take the lead on Keith Williams' 8-yard touchdown pass to Grant Miller with 6:22 remaining.
Menefee immediately got Contra Costa in position to win the game with a 49-yard run to the Alameda 15-yard line on the first play after the ensuing kickoff.
"I just trusted my blockers, going around my receivers," Menefee said of his 49-yard run. "It was a power-left. The guard pulled, the fullback took out the D-end. I ran around the receiver, took it to the next level."
Menefee finished with 83 yards on eight carries.
Alameda struggled to get going early. Williams of McClymonds threw two touchdowns in the second half and completed 10 of 23 passes for 192 yards.
However, the key play came when James Logan's Ryan Bua intercepted a Dante Mayes pass in the fourth quarter and returned it 37 yards to the Contra Costa 13 to set up the touchdown pass to Miller.
"It was weird because I visualized it right before I did it," Bua said. "I was like, 'It would be nice to have an interception right now.' I had a nice drop, split the two guys and then cut on his throw."
Lou Bronzon Invitational: His team's slogan is Wrestle Ugly, but Matt McCoy's performance Saturday was a thing of beauty to Clayton Valley coach Kyle Behmlander.
McCoy overpowered Ward Beecher of Upper Lake 11-4 to win the 146-pound championship at Liberty's Lou Bronzan Invitational, and was never seriously challenged in the two-day tournament.
The championship bout was his closest match of the tournament, but he was in complete control of Beecher. McCoy had two pins and a major decision en route to his spot in the final.
Liberty's Tanner Blank won the 183-pound title with a 7-2 decision over Jacob Clark of Fort Bragg and with the victory secured second place for the Lions.
Liberty finished 9.5 points behind Windsor and a half-point ahead of De La Salle. The Lions' other finalist, Jake Gonzalez, dropped a 17-10 decision to Travis Coleman of Upper Lake at 153 pounds.
De La Salle's only finalist, 161-pounder Jimmy Cabral, fell 5-3 in overtime to James Simerly of Weston Ranch.
-- Steve Dulas, correspondent
Boys soccer
Ygnacio Valley 1, Pittsburg 1: A driving rain, wind and hail storm handicapped what should have been a fast-paced back-and-forth match between Ygnacio Valley and Pittsburg.
Despite the style of both teams being sacrificed, it was entertaining nonetheless. Both teams scored in the second half as the Warriors equalized late to come away with a draw.
The Pirates (2-2-2) nearly took the lead in the first half when Izzy Murgia's shot was cleared off the line by Klebber Machado in the 18th minute. But it was Murgia's corner kick that was headed in by Ricardo Vasquez in the 53rd minute that gave the visitors a 1-0 lead.
Four minutes later, Jorge Melgoza's header hit the crossbar, nearly giving Pittsburg a 2-0 advantage.
From that point, Ygnacio Valley (7-1-2) pushed up, looking to level the score. It did so in the 68th minute when Tata Ayala's header flick landed perfectly at the feet of Edgar Damian, who capitalized on a one-on-one situation to even the score.
-- Matt Smith, correspondent
