The 2012 season is officially in the books. Here’s a look at what happened on the final night of the CIF Southern Section Championships.
Central Division: Kaiser 28, Rancho Verde 21
Fontana Kaiser was able to win its first CIF title since 2003 with one key fourth-quarter play.
With just under three minutes left and the game tied at 21, Marquette Washington rolled out on a first down and broke a tackle and was trying to bulldoze his way through the Rancho Verde secondary when he saw an open Raymond Padilla just a few feet away. Washington pitched it to Padilla who ran back into the end zone to complete the 63-yard lateral touchdown and clinch a 28-21 CIF Championship win for the Cats.
The lateral, a play that requires precise execution, looked almost too easy.
But it took an effort on both sides of the ball that did not go unnoticed by head coach Phil Zelaya to get the Cats (14-1) into a position to make the game-winning play.
“This was a total team effort,” Zelaya said. “This team is a bunch of guys with no names. We play for each other and we coach for each other and tonight we were coaching and playing for the city of Fontana.”
Rancho Verde (10-4) played the Cats as tough tying the game late on a strong touchdown drive. Sherrion Jones threw a laser over the middle to Jaron Johnson for a 38-yard gain, setting up an easy touchdown pass to Demorea Strinfellow at 9:17 that tied the game at 21.
The Mustangs showed promise on their next drive, recovering a fumble, but they would do nothing with it, going three-and-out. Kaiser then ran the lateral on the very next play, leaving Rancho Verde with too much ground to make up.
Northern Division: No. 18 Palos Verdes 35, West Torrance 14
The roads that No. 18 Palos Verdes and West Torrance took to get to Long Beach Veterans Stadium Friday night couldn’t have been more different. Palos Verdes opened the season with three-straight losses, leading some to count the Sea Kings out by September.
West opened strong before hitting a mid-season skid but had won five straight coming into Saturday’s CIF title game.
But in the all-Bay League final, Palos Verdes head coach Guy Gardner never counted his team out; the head coach was confident his team wouldn’t bow out to the team with the hot hand. Gardner’s squad lived up to his expectations, building an early led that eventually led to a 35-14 CIF Championship win over West.
“When you’re 0-3 you just kind of go back to the drawing board,” Gardner said. “It really wasn’t that complicated.”
The Sea Kings put up 14 in the first quarter, with Craig Knaus making the highlight reel when he caught a high pass under double coverage in the corner of the end zone midway through to give Palos Verdes a two-touchdown lead.
The second quarter belonged to Matt Lopes, who scored two-straight touchdowns to put Palos Verdes up, 19-7. Lopes would finish with three touchdowns on the night and proved to be a key factor for the Sea Kings.
“Heart, desire and a leg drive,” Gardner said. “That’s the secret to Matt.”
After a second quarter touchdown, West Torrance (10-4) would not see the end zone again until the fourth quarter, as the Warriors were unable to swing the momentum in their direction.
Southern Division: Corona del Mar 35, Garden Grove 10
The early afternoon contest at Anaheim Stadium between Newport Beach Corona del Mar and Garden Grove was the Sea Kings’ game from wire-to-wire. Corona del Mar (12-2) started fast with an Alexander Moore pick-six on the first play. From there, it was never a question of which team was in control, as the Sea Kings eventually finished with a 35-10 win and their second-straight CIF Championship.
That was the first of three turnovers for the Sea Kings, whose defense limited the Argonauts (11-3) to just 82 rushing yards and 173 passing yards. Southern Division Player of the year Cayman Carter was exceptionally productive in leading his squad to the title. Carter completed 16 of 27 passes for 203 yards and with a touchdown and rushed for 68 yards and two touchdowns.
It was a dominant showing for a team who is looking for a berth into the Division II state bowl game, but it was marred by a late play in which Garden Grove’s Josh Vasquez went down and didn’t get up. In a scary moment for all 6,870 in attendance, Vasquez was carted off the field in an ambulance with a neck injury.
Northwest Division: Nordhoff 31, North Torrance 14
Football starts and ends at the lines and in the Northwest finale, it was Nordhoff’s offensive line that led the Rangers to a 31-14 CIF Championship win over North Torrance.
The offensive line was showcased in the first play the Rangers ran. After running back Taylor Livingston broke a tackle, the left side suddenly opened up allowing him to run all the way down for a 43-yard touchdown.
North Torrance (11-3) came back to tie with 43 seconds left in the first half but it was the closest the Saxons would get.
Livingston would account for one more Nordhoff (13-1) touchdown while Eric Lara would add two more, with the best one coming on a 90-yard kick return that opened the second half and gave the Rangers a 14-7 lead.
It was the school’s first-ever CIF title, and as the final whistle blew, the Rangers were overjoyed and many were overcome with emotion. Players collapsed as they embraced one another with many triumphantly thrusting the number one into the air. It was a proud moment for a burgeoning program, and with several juniors on the roster, it’s a program whose growth has yet to hit its peak.
Southeast Division: Downey 33, Whittier La Serna 25
This season, the players of Downey decided they were tired of being the usual also-rans that have typically exited early from the postseason. The Vikings made it to the CIF Championship game but knew that they would need to play a near-perfect ball game in order to defeat Whittier La Serna, the team that just barely edged them 28-27 in the regular season, and win their first CIF title since 1999.
But plays like the one that Jorge Reyna made in the third quarter were championship-caliber, and the Vikings (11-3) were able to hold off the Lancers (12-2) for a breakout 33-25 CIF Championship win.
“We switched it up on them to keep them guessing,” said Downey head coach Jack Williams. “They’re quarterback is a really good player so we’ve got to kind of confuse him a little bit.”
With Downey holding on to just a one-point lead nearing the end of the fourth quarter, Reyna made a mistake look like almost as if it was a designed play, picking up a dropped snap and running it into the end zone quickly. Reyna made up for the error in an absolutely effortless fashion to give the Vikings a 20-13 lead.
In the fourth quarter, highly-touted running back Justin Huff finally found the end zone on a short rush to put Downey ahead 27-13.
But La Serna then scored two touchdowns to close the gap to just 27-25 with just under four minutes to play when Luke Gonzales broke loose through the middle and found the open field for a big touchdown run. But Downey didn’t crumble under the pressure. The Vikings took their time executing a final scoring drive that Huff finished off with a short touchdown rush.
Now the pressure was firmly placed on La Serna. With time running out, the Lancers had one more chance. With 49 seconds left the Lancers picked up a first down. Frankie Palmer took his time after the snap and hit the double-teamed Matthew Rosales with a perfectly-placed pass out wide to get La Serna down to the 10-yard line with 41 seconds on the clock.
But Palmer hurried a little too much in the hurry-up, dropping the snap on the next play. Downey recovered and began an early CIF title celebration.
While Williams was the one who engineered the win, he was hardly the one to take all of the credit.
“I’m speechless,” Williams said. “Those guys are committed. They’re the ones that meet me halfway, I can only do so much.”
