ALLAN STEELE
JURUPA VALLEY By the time the third quarter ticked down on Friday, Hemet had its sights set on a blowout win behind its punishing run game and Patriot was just trying to catch its breath. Three third-quarter touchdowns put the Bulldogs in the driver’s seat in the nonleague matchup, but that scenario quickly changed as the Warriors came roaring back. By the time the fourth quarter ticked down, it was Hemet catching its breath in relief after holding on for a wild 56-54 win. Both teams were exhausted afterward and Hemet coach Jeff Reitz was happy to exit with a win. “We’re still a young team,” Reitz said, noting a handful of Bulldogs miscues that aided a near-collapse in the fourth quarter. Reitz also credited Patriot (3-2) for being able to capitalize on those errors. Jeff Martin’s touchdown runs of 26 and 11 yards in the third quarter put Hemet (4-1) in the lead after the Warriors took a 30-28 lead at the break. After pounding the Patriot defense with the 225-pound Martin, speedy Erick Ramos put the exclamation point on the quarter with a 64-yard touchdown run right up the middle. Both offenses were sharp most of the game, but the Warriors needed to turn it up another level in the fourth and they did. Quarterback John Holder, who finished the first half by missing six of his final seven passes, started to torch the Bulldogs secondary. He connected with Cortez Samuel with 11:31 left to pull Patriot within 36-49. Martin responded again with a 24-yard TD run and Hemet looked like it was back in control. But Patriot was just getting started. Samuel caught a tipped pass in the end zone with 5:29 left. On Hemet’s first play of the next series, a tipped ball at the line of scrimmage was intercepted by Elijah Calderon and Patriot took advantage, with Miguel Alvarez scoring from 4 yards out. Hemet failed to run out much of the clock and Patriot took over with 3:25 left. Holder hit Jacob Arguello for a 27-yard score. Patriot went for the twopoint conversion to tie with 1:42 left, but the pass was incomplete. Holder finished 26 of 44 for 362 yards and six TDs. Martin led Hemet with 191 yards and five TDs.