FERNDALE — Craig Cybulski did a little bit of everything for Justin-Siena High’s football team in Saturday’s stunning 22-15 upset of undefeated, top-ranked Ferndale.

The senior was in on some tackles as a free safety. He caught a couple of passes from his wide receiver spot. Then, as a punter, he saved the game that moved the Braves into Friday’s 7 p.m. North Coast Section Division IV championship game against Salesian at St. Helena’s Patterson Memorial Field.

Cybulski retrieved an errant snap late in the first half at the Justin 24-yard line, turned quickly and somehow pooched a kick that bounced to the Ferndale 46. The Wildcats still scored on a 54-yard touchdown pass and run from Ryan Robertson to Chuck Jones, but the punt was a prelude to the game-saving play.

“I just told myself I wasn’t going to just fall on the ball,” said Cybulski, who must’ve kept that thought in mind.

Justin (8-4) led 16-15 early in the fourth quarter and marched to the Ferndale 36. The Braves opted to punt. The snap, however, again soared over Cybulski’s head. He looked back over his left shoulder at two approaching Wildcats, then raced to pick the ball up at Justin’s 34.

“I don’t remember looking back,” he said.

Cybulski grabbed the bouncing ball, turned around and was hit by one Wildcat — and shook free. The defender arrived and Cybulski eluded him, too. He got off a kick that took a kind bounce and wound up at Ferndale’s 15-yard line.

Cybulski’s punt traveled barely 21 yards from the line of scrimmage, but cost Ferndale 62 yards from Justin’s 34 to its own 15.

“It was just instinct,” Cybulski said. “I was so scared, that I guess I just tried to make a play and it worked.”

The play also stunned a standing-room-only crowd that lined Carl Carlson Memorial Field.

Ferndale gained 23 yards on two plays. Thanks to Cybulski’s magic, they weren’t at Justin’s 11, but at their own 39. Daniel Pardini and Reid Francis proceeded to sack Robertson on fourth down, enabling Cybulski’s effort to set up the decisive touchdown.

Justin’s Kevin Reinell, who rushed for 40 yards and caught six passes for 82 yards, immediately raced seven yards. Then, he caught a 7-yard pass from Eddie Aguayo. The senior speedster later swept left end and followed blocks by Michael Lohwasser and Marcus Solis to the Ferndale 16.

Two plays later, Reinell shook the Ferndale defensive back with a post-corner move, then fought the Aguayo pass that was coming straight out of the setting sun, and hauled in a 16-yard touchdown. The run for the two-point conversion failed, but the Braves led 22-15 with 2:42 left in regulation.

Ferndale’s Jourdan Del Biaggio ran the ensuing kickoff back 35 yards to Ferndale’s 40 with 2:33 to play in regulation and it seemed to a standing-room-only crowd lining the field that the Wildcats (11-1) might still advance to the Division IV title game and salvage a spot in the CIF small school bowl game.

 Casey Tompkins, back from a knee injury that sidelined him Sept. 27, stopped the first play for no gain. Then, linebacker Quin Stanier made a key tackle and broke up a pass to force Ferndale to put its season on the line on fourth down.

“We stunted more and got a strong pass rush on them in the second half,” Francis said. “Our defensive line was just amazing.”

Justin Clayton burst off left end and arrived as Robertson was setting to throw. The senior star leaped, tipped the ball up that wobbled straight into the air from where Stanier intercepted it to seal the victory with 1:15 remaining.

Ferndale head coach Kim Jorgensen praised the Braves.

“They’ve got a really tough team,” he said. “We just couldn’t get it going offensively at all.”

Ferndale led 15-9 at halftime, leading Justin-Siena to do some serious soul-searching.

“The coaches took all the offensive linemen, sat us down and looked us in the eye, and said, ‘This is just lame. You can’t do this against a team like this. You have to go out and blow right through them,’” Clayton said. “And, that’s what we did in the second half.”

Reinell returned the second-half kickoff 14 yards, then swept left end for 13 more to the Justin 37. Pardini raced 13 yards before Aguayo lofted a pass between two defenders who blasted Cybulski as he leaped into the air to make the catch for an 18-yard gain. Aguayo ran for nine yards, then threw an 11-yard strike to Stanier. Two plays later, the junior quarterback took the snap, spun to his left and reversed to sweep right end for the score. Jordan Grubbs’ kick made it 16-15.

The 13-play, 76-yard drive lasted 5:45 and erased memories of a Justin’s lackluster first half.

“We didn’t really make any adjustments at halftime,” Cotruvo said. “This team’s really changed in the last four weeks. They were mad at themselves in the locker room. They expected themselves to go out in the second half and get the job done.”

Clayton admitted being concerned.

“I didn’t know what to think in the first half,” he said. “We were a perfect match size-wise with them. They ran the exact defense and offense we practiced for, so we came out really confident in the second half.”

Take away two long Ferndale touchdown passes and the Justin defense pitched a shutout, holding the Wildcats to just over three yards per play. The Braves held Del Biaggio, who rushed for 1,280 yards this season, to 44 yards on eight carries. Ferndale simply couldn’t move the ball in the second half and their march toward a berth in the state championship game was predicated on the run.

“I was very, very surprised that we could hold that team like we did running,” Francis said after Ferndale managed just 72 yards on the ground.

“We played more zone in the second half,” defensive coordinator Steve Vargas said after watching two Justin defenders get beat for long scoring passes. “We stunted more and we really mixed up our coverages and showed them different angles. Once we got ahead, they were compromised and had to pass and we really got after them.”

Lineman Guido Murnig had a simpler explanation.

“You could just feel our team coming together,” he said. “We went out in the second half and kicked their butts.”

Aguayo completed eight of 18 passes for 107 yards and rushed eight times for 44.

“I made some bad reads on the veer in the first half,” Aguayo said.  “If I make a good play, that tends to relax me. So, in the second half, we adjusted and the offensive line just did a great job. We played just like we prepared to play.”