ITESM Borregos Toluca capture first ever Mexican college title

| American Football | 12/04/2017

The ITESM Borregos Toluca  staged a brilliant late-game comeback to stun the UNAM Pumas CU 16-15 at ITESM Toluca stadium in Toluca, Mexico to win the 2017 Tazón de Campeones pitting the top two teams in Mexican college football.

Toluca entered the game as winners of the CONADEIP  title while UNAM were the ONEFA title holders.

Toluca quarterback Maximiliano Lara tossed a 20 yard touchdown pass to Jhovany Haro and Enrique Yenny kicked the winning extra point with 45 seconds left to play to claim the Mexican national college championship.

It was a game dominated by defenses until late in the final quarter. Neither offense could move the ball with any consistency until Pumas quarterback Daniel de Juambelz  connected with Ricardo Sáinz for a 13 yard touchdown pass with less than two minutes remaining in the first half and Diego Reyes kicked the extra point to give UNAM a 7-0 halftime lead.

Toluca head coach Horacio García seemed to make a successful halftime adjustment and the offense began to click, reaching the red zone twice in the third quarter. Yenny kicked field goals of 39 and 22 yards to edge ITESM closer 7-6.

ITESM continued to move the ball and Yenny finally gave Toluca the lead 9-7, on a 27 yard field goal.

This was a wakeup call for the Pumas. First they picked off Lara at their own 13 yard line. Then de Juambelz marched his team 87 yards ,finding  Sainz  on a 37 yard touchdown pass to retake the lead 15-7 with less than two minutes left.

Which set up Lara for the high drama which ensued.

The Borregos Tóluca final drive measured 71 yards  highlighted by a pass from Lara to Manuel Lozada that put the locals into the Pumas half of the field. He followed this with another 17 yarder to Alexis Garduño to put the Borregos on the Pumas CU 20 with 49 seconds on the clock. That’s when  Lara hit Haro to tie the game and Yenny calmly kicked the winning extra point with 45 seconds of play.

The Pumas could not move into field goal range and turned the ball over on downs with nine seconds left. Lara took a knee and Toluca began celebrating.

Photos: nflhispano.com

 

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