Victorville, CA — The Bulldogs rallied for a 30-26 win to reach a sectional final for the first time in program history. A season spent on brink has forged a team that doesn’t blink. It’s why the Buena High football team was able to make history Friday night in Victorville. And why the Bulldogs are within reach of their first section championship. Quarterback Zane Carter ran for two touchdowns and threw for another and running back Jake Murphy rushed for 161 yards and two touchdowns as Buena climbed out of a 20-point hole to edge host Silverado, 30-26, in an epic CIF-Southern Section Division 8 semifinal Friday night in Victorville. “You have to find a way to claw your way back in and we did that,” Buena coach Ryan Bolland said. “We’re a team that’s been in a lot of those situations. “We tend to get to that breaking point and find a way.” The comeback was complete by the first play of the fourth quarter. But it took every last snap to clinch its first berth in a section final. Buena, which has split four one-point games during a roller coaster of a season, wasn’t able to celebrate until senior linebacker Roma Barrios broke up Silverado’s last pass from the Buena 17 in the final seconds. “That’s happened several times,” Bolland said. “We just found a way. The kids built off each other’s play.” Riding an eight-game winning streak, its longest on the field since 1999, Buena (10-3) will host Phelan-Serrano (11-3), which edged Highland 18-13 in the other semifinal, in the Division 8 championship either Friday or Saturday. It will be the first section football final in school history. “It’s going to be fun,” Bolland said. “It’s a really cool opportunity for our school and our program. “It’s over Thanksgiving weekend, so hopefully alumni of the program, alumni of the school, people who are home for the holidays can come out and support the kids.” Playing in its first section semifinal since 1993, the Pacific View League champion scored 23 straight points in a 16-minute span that bridged halftime to take a 23-20 lead on the first play of the fourth quarter. Carter went around left end for a 34-yard touchdown run down the left sideline, running over a defensive back at the 20 and sprinting into the end zone to give the Bulldogs a 23-20 lead with 11:51 to play. “Coach came up to me and said, ‘Do you want to win this?’ ” Carter told the Victorville Daily Press. “And I’m like, ‘hell yeah!’ So he told me to run the same play because we know we pick up at least a yard on it every time.” Carter completed 12 of 20 passes for 102 yards and a TD and also ran for 97 yards and two TDs on 19 carries. But Buena calmly marched 70 yards in 10 plays — all of them running plays — to grind out the game-winning points. “Phenomenal four-minute offense,” Bolland said. “We ate the clock down by the time we scored.” Carter’s 1-yard keeper around left end gave Buena a 30-26 lead with 44.5 seconds to play. But Silverado wasn’t done. Aided by a roughing-the-passer flag, the Desert Sky League champion drove 54 yards in 30.7 seconds, moving to the Buena 17 with 7.9 seconds left. “We gave up more yards than I would have liked,” Bolland said. Junior cornerback Colin Guenther defended the first down pass in the end zone. Barrios broke up the final pass at the right pylon after time expired. “Maybe if we had one more play it would have been a different outcome,” Silverado head coach Keron Jones told the Victorville Daily Press. “They’re a good football team and they played us well.” Silverado, which had won seven straight since an 0-5 start, reminded Bolland of Paraclete, Buena's first-round opponent. “They were good,” Bolland said. “They had a lot of athletes. ... We had a really hard time tackling their quarterback and running back all night long.” Silverado used a six-play, 71-yard drive to turn the opening kickoff into an early 7-0 lead on a 21-yard Frederick Hunter TD run. Ian Wilson’s 2-yard TD run pushed the Silverado lead to 13-0 with 10:50 left in the half. After Buena was stopped on fourth-and-inches, Silverado capitalized to build a 20-0 lead on Wilson’s 18-yard touchdown run with 1:41 left in the first half. “Our first half was just not very clean,” Bolland said. “We didn’t tackle very well in the first half.” Buena’s answer was immediate. Carter’s 36-yard strike to Kaden Anderson set up Murphy’s 8-yard TD with 30.3 seconds left in the half. Brandon Rice followed with the conversion to pull Buena within 20-8 at the half. “That score was pretty big for momentum,” Bolland said. It gave the Bulldogs belief. “That was our mindset going into halftime,” Bolland said. “We hadn’t played well. They were ahead, but they weren’t out of reach.” Buena used a 12-play, 75-yard drive to pull within 20-15 with 2:41 left in the third quarter. On fourth-and-5 from the Silverado 8, Carter faked a quarterback keeper, then dropped back to find Murphy in the flat for an 8-yard TD pass. After missing the first two games of the playoffs, Murphy had 190 yards from scrimmage, 160 yards rushing and a TD on 24 carries and five catches for 30 yards and a TD. “It certainly helps our running game,” Bolland said. “He’s patient and explosive. He’s going to be patient through the hole and he has a burst coming through it.”