One for four: Jaguars lead San Diego Section teams at state bowl football championships

by Phillip Brents

Aside from all-star games, the high school football season wrapped up last weekend with 15 state bowl championship games.

Four teams represented the San Diego Section, including Christian High School of El Cajon in the Division 5-AA final, Valley Center in the Division 6-AA final, Cathedral Catholic in the Division 1-AA final and Morse in the Division-6A final.

Only Valley Center (9-6) emerged victorious with a 36-35 decision over Northern California regional champion San Jose Lincoln (11-4). Christian (8-8) lost, 37-0, to Oakland’s Bishop O’Dowd (11-4) while Cathedral Catholic (11-3) was roughed up 42-28 by NorCal champion Folsom (14-1) in heavy fog in games played on Friday. Morse (10-5) ended its season with a 28-7 setback to the Winters Warriors from rural Yolo County (14-1) on Saturday.

Christian, Valley Center Cathedral and Morse all qualified for state bowl games as Southern California regional champions.

The loss to Bishop O’Dowd snapped Christian’s six-game winning streak. As part of that streak, the Patriots doubled up top-seeded Central Union, 28-14, to win the Division III section title and went on to upend Valley Christian, 27-13, for the SoCal division championship.

The Patriots were out-gunned in the state final by the Dragons, who scored three first-half touchdowns to take a decisive lead.
The state title is the second for the Oakland school, which previously won in 2016.

Christian was making its first appearance in the state bowl final and found the going challenging. The Patriots managed only 98 passing yards with five quarterback sacks to hinder the team’s offense.

Valley Center, the Division IV section champion, engineered a 78-yard touchdown drive in the final 1:42 to prevail on a successful PAT conversion by senior Jesse Morales after Lincoln had missed on its previous touchdown. Senior Joeisha Ryan Tirado (24 carries, 194 yards) led the Jaguars with four touchdowns, including the game-winner.

Valley Center, which defeated Eastlake in the section finals, generated 491 total yards.

Junior Honor Falaave (22 carries, 267 yards) scored two touchdowns for Cathedral, which fell behind 21-0 to the Bulldogs, who won their sixth state title.

Backup QB Brody Rudnicki accounted for all six of Folsom’s touchdowns (four rushing, two passing).

The dense fog significantly impacted visibility for both teams.

Morse, which coughed up three opening touchdowns to Winters, received solace from senior Superior Garror (19 carries, 83 yards) on a four-yard touchdown run.

The Tigers, the Division V section champions, were did in by senior Lane Brown, who rushed 25 times for 154 yards and scored three rushing touchdowns while passing for another.