But as is the case so often in places like Vegas and Reno, the house usually wins. And such was the case last week when the house--the host Eagles--scored with 22 seconds remaining to pull out a 41-36 win in the battle for first place in the Mt. Hamilton Division of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.

Pioneer's football coach took a few chances when the Mustangs traveled to Oak Grove for the Friday night game. And Krail's gambles all paid off--it's just that the Eagles got the football back to too much time left on the clock.

Krail's biggest gamble of the night was the decision to go for the 2-point conversion following a Jarod Koblis touchdown that left the Mustangs down 35-34 with 1:53 left in the game. Ernesto Torales had easily drilled each of his first four extra-point kicks for Pioneer.

Good gamble

The gamble paid off when Jeremy Landucci swept left to get into the endzone.

"Funny, but at Leland it was a no brainer," said Krail, referring to Pioneer's decision to go for two in a 21-20 win over the Chargers to open the season. "This time we had to call a time-out to talk about it. But the players had it in their eyes that they wanted to go for two."

So Krail gave his Mustangs the green light, and they pulled out to a 36-35 lead.

"It was the exact same play they ran against Leland," said Oak Grove coach Ed Buller.

Unfortunately for the Mustangs, though, 1:53 on the clock is an eternity for a high-powered offense like Oak Grove. The Eagles moved the ball down the field to score on a 5-yard run with 22 seconds remaining.

"We'd been moving the ball pretty good all game long, and we work on that 2-minute drill every Wednesday," said Buller. "We wanted to run the ball right to left down there. If we don't get it, we're right in the middle to kick the field goal."

The Eagles didn't have to worry about kicking, though. Burton Iosefa scored the game-winner for the Eagles.

Still, Krail didn't let the defeat get him down--and he certainly wasn't down on his Mustangs.

"I'm so proud of these Mustangs," said the coach. "They've got so much fight in them. They refuse to quit."

"I've been coaching a long time," he added, "and I've never been more proud of a team that I am of this one."

Pioneer faces another big test this week when the Mustangs play host to powerhouse Piedmont Hills on Oct. 25, 1:30 p.m. The Pirates are 3-3 for the year and 2-1 in the division following a 37-21 win over Leigh last week.

Krail's decision to go for the 2-point conversion and the lead instead of settling for the tie last Friday night was the fourth in a string of gambles that paid off for the Mustangs.

The first came late in the third quarter with the Eagles up 35-21 and threatening to score again. Oak Grove gained five yards to the Pioneer 30-yard line but was flagged for holding. Instead of pushing the Eagles back to 45 to face a third and long, Krail declined the penalty to let the Mustangs take their chances holding Oak Grove on fourth and five.

Linebacker Collin McCarthy came up hard to drop Iosefa after just a 2-yard gain.

Pioneer still trailed 35-21 when Krail rolled the dice a second time. The Mustangs faced a fourth and six at their own 16-yard line late in the fourth quarter. But Krail wasn't about to punt the ball away.

"We were down two scores so we had to go for it," said the coach. "What's the difference whether you lose by two or three [touchdowns]."

Turns out, it was the right call. Koblis scrambled for 17 yards and a first down. He followed up the run with two passes to Andrew Schulz for 38 yards and one to Carlos Moreno for 27 more. Fullback Sinan Dumlugol blasted over from the 2-yard line and Torales converted to cut the Oak Grove lead to 35-28 with 4:27 left in the game.

Once more Krail took a gamble. He called on kicker Bobby Lopez to try an onside kick. Not only did Lopez kick the football, but he recovered it at the Oak Grove 43 to give the Mustangs possession.

Then Schulz took over. He hauled in an 8-yard pass from Koblis, then ran twice for 28 yards to get the Mustangs to the Oak Grove 7-yard line.

Koblis scores

Landucci followed a Dumlugol block for four yards and Dumlugol powered for two more before Koblis followed James Bailey and Jory Wilson for the final yard and paydirt.

Along with Bailey and Wilson, the men up front for the Mustangs included Armando Apolinar, Steve Matos, Jeff Terry and Rolando Gomez. The offensive line led Pioneer to 423 yards of total offense, including 266 on the ground.

Landucci led the ground assault with 18 carries for 117 yards and a touchdown. Schulz supported with 89 yards on eight tries, Dumlugol added 31 yards on eight attempts and Koblis picked up 29 yards on 10 carries.

Koblis hooked up on 11 of 20 passes for 157 yards, going to Schulz four times for 76 yards and to Landucci four times for 36 yards. Dumlugol, Moreno and Shaun Souza also caught passes for the Mustangs.

McCarthy, Tino Hardy and Tron Hardy were the defensive leaders for the Mustangs in the game. McCarthy and Tino Hardy were in on seven tackles apiece and Tron Hardy got in on six. McCarthy intercepted a pass and Tron Hardy recovered a fumble.

Bryson Teixeira and Danny Ventura were in on five tackles apiece for the Mustangs and Dumlugol got in on four. Robbie Steinberg, Paul Bocanegra and Gomez were other defensive leaders and Justin Kaufmann, Jimmy Worrell, Ray Marcil, Jose Lopez and Andy Ziegler were others in on tackles.

Pioneer took the early lead in the game with two quick touchdowns. A 43-yard run by Schulz set up an 11-yard TD run by Dumlugol. Then Oak Grove fumbled on the ensuing kickoff and Tron Hardy recovered at the Oak Grove 33-yard line. Koblis capitalized with a 7-yard TD run.

But the Eagles came back to score four straight before Landucci took one over from the 2-yard line to make it 28-21.

Oak Grove scored on its first possession of the second half, and that's how it remained until Pioneer's late-game heroics.