In fact, the Homestead senior back was so confident, he told coach Charlie Bostic he could do it.

He knew he could get open behind the Piedmont Hills secondary and keep the dream alive for the Homestead football team in the Central Coast Section (CCS) Division 2 playoffs.

He did, and the rest was up to Craig Maynard.

The senior quarterback dropped back, stepped right, stepped left, then stepped up to heave a 56-yard touchdown pass to the sprinting McGee to give the Mustangs a thrilling 21-17 victory over the favored Pirates.

"This is a credit to these kids—they didn't want their season to end," said a happy Bostic just moments after Homestead's game-winning touchdown came with just 38.5 seconds left to play. "What's so great about this team is that so many guys are capable of making the big play on any play."

Last Saturday night, it was Maynard and McGee.

"I saw that No. 8 wide open past everybody," said Maynard, who stepped up to avoid a sack thanks to a crushing block by Ramont Thomas in the backfield. "I saw that white jersey behind everybody else."

It was literally Homestead's last play of the season, and the rush of adrenaline helped Maynard as he let one fly 50 yards down the field

"You could feel it," he said.

There to haul it in on his fingertips was McGee, and Homestead was 38 seconds away from a miracle victory.

"I told the coach to let me get it—I knew it was there because it was open the play before when Craig got sacked," said McGee.

At first McGee didn't think he could get to it. But he just kept running and running and running ...

"I caught it out on my fingertips," he said. "And it really felt good, because I'd dropped two of them earlier this season."

He didn't drop this one. McGee hung on, and the Mustangs will advance to the CCS Division 2 championship game. Homestead, now 10-2 for the year, will face Menlo-Atherton (10-2) on Dec. 7, 7 p.m., at San José City College.

The Homestead team that played the first half last Saturday night didn't appear to be headed anywhere but home. The Mustangs trailed just 14-7 at intermission, but Piedmont Hills had run up 184 yards of total offense while holding the Mustangs to just 78.

"We were getting gorged," admitted Bostic. "Thank God they turned the ball over in the first half."

Piedmont Hills turned the ball over four times in the first half, but Homestead could cash in just once. The Pirates, meanwhile, scored twice, and superstar running back Jeremy Jones ran for 118 yards.

"But the kids decided that they wanted to come out and play," said Bostic. "They came back in the second half and got it done."

They certainly did. It was Homestead dominating Piedmont as the Mustangs ran up 198 yards to just 90 for the Pirates—and the defense held Jones to just 23 yards in the final two quarters.

"The creed of this team has been to take a team into the fourth quarter and then see what happens," added Bostic. Homestead did just that on Saturday night.

At first it didn't look so good for the Mustangs. Tyler Jordan and Thomas dropped fullback Keith Harper Jr. for a loss, and Richard Scott and Steve Conti came through with clutch tackles to stop the Pirates at the Homestead 24, but Chris Silva drilled a 40-yard field goal with 1:40 left to play to put the Bucs up 17-14.

A 26-yard kickoff return by Will Faules gave the Mustangs good field position at their own 38-yard line, but three plays later they had advanced only as far as the 44 and faced a fourth-and-four—the season was on the line.

Maynard calmly went through the routine he's gone through so many times this year and hit McGee with the touchdown pass.

"We've been through that so many times in practice," said Maynard. "We do our two-minute offense every day."

The practice paid off with a go-ahead touchdown; then the defense went to work.

Jordan and Artur Grigorian hammered Piedmont quarterback Ben Hartshorn on first down to force a fumble. The Pirates got the ball back, but they were stuck at their own 23 following the big sack.

A shaken Hartshorn threw three more rather feeble passes, one of them batted away by Scott and another intercepted by Garren Strong to seal the Homestead victory.

Scott and Strong both played a key role for the Homestead defense. Scott led the Mustangs with 10 tackles, including two for losses, and Strong came through with two picks and recovered an onside kick.

Thomas got in on nine tackles ,and Conti was in on eight, including one that forced a Piedmont Hills fumble. Sean Carey supported with six tackles and Jeff Tucker, Jordan, Mike VanOrden, Anthony Morales and Eddie Sumpter were in on five each. Tucker intercepted a pass and Jordan recovered a fumble.

Maynard finished the night hitting on 5 of 8 passes for 138 yards. He was 4 of 4 for 128 yards in the second half. Strong caught three passes for 78 yards and McGee had two grabs for 60.

Faules was the workhorse of the Homestead backfield, carrying 17 times for 72 yards. Thomas supported with 40 yards on seven tries.

Tackles VanOrden and Chris McKim, guards Jordan and Keith Moll, center Greg Ariza and tight ends Morales and Jay Smith led the charge in the offensive line.

Maynard scored on a 3-yard run on the first play of the second quarter. Eric Dodge kicked the first of three extra points to give the Mustangs a 7-0 lead.

But the Pirates scored on their next possessions to go in leading 14-7 at the break.

A 61-yard Maynard pass to Strong and an 18-yard run by Faules set up an 8-yard TD run by Maynard to tie the game with 2:25 left in the third quarter.

That's how it remained until the Piedmont Hills field goal.

McKim, Grigorian, Robert Scott and Moll finished among the tackling leaders for the Mustangs and Daniel Sizemore, Brian Troyer and Mike Madrigalli were also in on stops. McKim recovered a fumble.