Miller Cardinals rally late to escape Diamond contest victorious

The Miller Cardinals earned their first victory of the season Friday night after defeating the hometown Diamond Wildcats, 12-8.
The Cardinals came into their week-four matchup against the Diamond Wildcats 0-3 with three losses against teams who have proven to be solid squads up to this point. The defense of the Cardinals has been a strong spot, where they have only allowed more than 260 yards of total defense just once in their week-two matchup with an elite Stockton squad.
The defense showed up to Diamond for their second road game of the season as the Miller defense forced Diamond to a three-and-out to open the game. However, a personal foul on the Cardinals kept the Diamond offense on the field. The defense took advantage of a sputtering Diamond offense as they forced the Wildcats to two three-and-outs on their first possession. That trend would continue as the first four possessions of the game would end with a punt.
Diamond found the end zone first with 6:17 remaining in the opening half as Rafael Rangel connected with a receiver up the middle and took it 49 yards to the house. Miller got aggressive on the ensuing possession and went for it on fourth-and-medium but was stopped just short. After Miller held Diamond to another punt, Miller took over with just over two and a half minutes left in the first half. Senior back Caden Calvin willed the Cardinals down to scoring position where he set up a one-yard touchdown from a quarterback sneak by Nate Hill with three seconds left. However, the two point conversion was no good and Diamond went into the break leading 8-6.
After the typical 20-minute halftime was extended to a 65-minute halftime due to a lightning delay, Miller felt like they had Diamond right where they wanted them.
It was still a defensive battle in the third quarter as Miller turned the ball over on downs to open the quarter but quickly got the ball back after a three-and-out. Miller was unable to capitalize on three three-and-outs and a fumble forced by Trenton Pearce, and neither team was able to find pay dirt in the third quarter and Diamond led 8-6.
After a third quarter that saw seven drives from the SWC foes, the fourth quarter slowed down as each team had just two possessions each. After Miller was forced to punt on their first possession of the fourth quarter, the Miller defense was able to force their first turnover of the game when a wild pass from Rangel hit an offensive lineman in the back of the helmet and landed in the lap of senior lineman Brodie Rinker. After a methodical drive, Miller found money in the same fashion with 4:51 remaining as Hill snuck in for his second touchdown of the game. Rangel was driving for the Wildcats but the Miller pressure forced a bad read that led to a game sealing interception from Mason Neely, as the Cardinals struck back for a 12-8 victory.
Hill led the Cardinals throwing the ball but struggled spinning it, finishing with 59 yards on 5-12 passing. Jalen Madsen led the receivers with one catch for 33 yards. Owen Weiss collected 16 yards on one catch and Jarod Lung had 10 yards on three catches. Caden Calvin nearly eclipsed 100 yards for the second week in a row but finished with 96 yards on 21 carries. Hill ran the ball 14 times for 37 yards. He also ran for two touchdowns and a fumble. Owen Demster collected 16 yards on four carries and Lung ran the ball five times for 28 yards.
The Cardinals improve to 1-3 for the season with Ash Grove coming to town next week when the Cardinals are honoring head coach Derek Hill’s 1994 state championship team.