Mexico: Borregos Toluca stage dramatic 2nd half rally to repeat as CONADEIP Premier League champions
The Borregos Toluca captured their second straight CONADEIP title this past weekend after coming from behind to upset Borregos Monterrey 28-21 in the championship game played at Escamilla Technological Sports Center in Monterrey.
The Monterrey squad entered the game as heavy favorites after finishing the regular season and playoffs with a 9-2 record. Meanwhile, Toluca had lost five of their last six regular season games, including two losses to Monterrey, the last one a decisive 23-9 loss on November 2.
In the first half, it looked like Monterrey would run away with this one too as they took a 14-0 lead. product of two touchdown passes by rookie quarterback Sebastián Hernández Ayón (6) to Alejandro Betancourt García (88) and Rodrigo de la Garza Madariaga of 75 (7-0) and 26 yards (14-0), respectively, plus two extra points kicked by Leonardo Guajardo Villarreal.
But Toluca’s rookie quarterback Maximiliano Lara González, who had been injured in the second quarter, returned after the break and made his mark. Lara threw touchdown passes to Maximiliano Manliofabio Hernández Yáñez (32 yards) and Luis Alberto Villegas González (24 yards) )to erase the 14 point deficit and tie the game at 14-14.
However, Monterrey quarterback Emilio Elizondo Fuentes regained the lead for his team with a seven yard run. But Lara was not done, engineering another scoring drive, capping it with a five yard touchdown pass to Emilio Fernández Chávez to tie the game again at 21-21.
Lara then finished off a 47 yard drive with a 14 yard touchdown run of his own to give Toluca a 28-21 fourth quarter lead they would not relinquish. Toluca linebacker Diego Oliva Flores picked off a Hernández pass to give Toluca their second straight CONADEIP title.
Felicitaciones al MVP del Juego de Campeonato de la Conferencia Premier. Max Lara QB #12 de @BorregosToluca pic.twitter.com/KeDUdngKDG
— CONADEIP Premier (@conadeipfba) November 26, 2018
Game MVP was , not surprisingly, Max Lara
Watch the game highlights here.
