Silverado beats Foothill 40-15 in Victory Bell game

By Anthony Fenech

Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009 | 11:14 p.m.

Trenton Tipton saw it coming.

He stood on the Silverado sidelines, joked with teammates, slapped some helmets and even danced a little. But he never took his eyes off the prize.

As the fourth quarter dwindled down with the Skyhawks holding a comfortable lead over their rivals from Foothill, the Victory Bell was escorted from the home sideline to behind the visiting Silverado bench.

“It wasn’t going to get out of my sight,” the senior said afterward. “And I was the first one to ring it.”

On a cold and windy night, with their backs against the playoff wall, Silverado defeated Foothill 40-15.

“It felt great getting the bell back,” Tipton said. “Now we need to get our playoff spot back.”

The senior utility man seems willing to do whatever it takes to make that happen, starting at wide receiver for the first time this season after spending the first eight games at quarterback.

Taking his spot under center was fellow senior Kyle Simmons, and the pair made it look like anything but their first game together, connecting for two long touchdown passes in the first quarter of 40 and 29 yards.

“Kyle did a great job throwing the ball and Trenton did a great job catching those balls,” Silverado coach Andy Ostolaza said.

“He really helps us by lining up out there, being a deep threat and pulling people out of the box to help us run better,” Ostolaza said.

Thanks to a workhorse performance by senior Terran Madu-Jules, who carried the ball 31 times for 163 yards and four touchdowns, the run game and pass game were able to feed off each other.

“We wanted this more. That’s why we won,” Madu-Jules said. “I’m glad we finally found our life back. Everybody thought we were going downhill, but we woke back up tonight.”

After losing three straight, the Skyhawks still linger on the outside of the playoff race looking in, needing help from other teams in their division to get in.

“There’s a lot of ifs, ands or buts,” Ostolaza said. “We put ourselves in a bind having to rely on other teams, but our goal is to finish 7-3. If we do that, hopefully, the other pieces will fall in place.”

Ostolaza said that while Simmons was named the starter at quarterback in part because of a minor hand injury to Tipton, he has no plans to change the lineup for next week’s regular season finale.

“It shows a lot about the kid,” he said of Simmons. “Being a backup then having to play in a pinch when our team needs a win, I can’t say enough about him.”

The victory was Silverado’s second in the 11 years the Victory Bell has been awarded to the winner of the annual matchup and tightens the race in the Sunrise Southeast Division.

Next week, Silverado (6-3) hosts Green Valley, while Foothill (5-4 ) travels to Basic.