More CIF Saturday State Finals

American Canyon players are shown from earlier this season. Wonder if any of them thought they’d end the season scoring 68 points in a CIF state final? Photo: X.com.

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In games played Saturday at Veterans Stadium (Long Beach):

DIVISION 3-A

Vanden (Fairfield) 42, Rio Hondo Prep (Arcadia) 41 (OT)

Someone inside the press box at Saddleback College had the final play calls on audio from this game in Long Beach. Rio Hondo’s fourth down and 2 touchdown in overtime by Noah Penunuri was heard with excitement on the other end. There was no hesitation by head coach Mark Carson to then go for a two-pointer and the win. The audio call was heard, “He’s a yard short. Vanden wins.”

The Vikings had scored on a fourth down on their series in overtime and just as he has all postseason it was Kalani McLeod who came through with a 5-yard TD pass to Keitaro Davis. That gave Vanden a 42-35 lead.

Much of the media in Southern California had fallen in love with the small school Kares. And why not? They have just 71 boys in the school and were beating much larger schools in the CIF Southern Section D7 playoffs and then last week with a regional win vs Poway. Vanden isn’t as big as those schools, and proved to have a passing game that was the equal to the ground-and-pound rushing attack of Rio Hondo Prep.

The Kares had a chance to win the game at the end of regulation, but missed on a 36-yard field goal.

McLeod, who had more than 400 yards passing in his previous two games, ended with 365 yards passing and two TDs plus he had one TD run (according to reports in the San Gabriel Valley Tribune).

Penunuri was reported with 223 yards rushing and five TDs. Nate Curtis also rushed for 145 yards.

Vanden won its second-ever CIF state title to go with the one that it won in 2021 at its home field site vs Aquinas of San Bernardino. RHP still could be named State Small Schools Team of the Year despite the overtime loss. It was looking to win its first state title. Both teams ended with 13-2 final records.

DIVISION 4-A

Sonora 52, St. Pius X-St. Matthias (Downey) 34

No, there isn’t going to be a CIF state champion this season that started 1-9 in the regular season. The Wildcats made sure of that with an impressive showing against the Warriors.

Sonora broke out from a 7-7 tie in the first quarter with a flurry of touchdowns that gave it a 31-7 lead at halftime. According to the SoCal Varsity twitter feed, the Wildcats piled up more than 360 plus yards of rushing. They also hit some big plays in their passing game as Eli Ingalls had an 84-yard touchdown to Cash Byington and a 42-yard TD pass to Byington.

Junior Jassi Williams has had big games for St. Pius X throughout the playoffs. He had a game-tying run early in the game and he had an 88-yard scoring pass that was called back on a holding penalty that could have made the score closer had halftime.

The Wildcats wrapped up a 13-2 season and won their school’s first-ever CIF state title. The Warriors had a five-game win streak in the CIFSS D10 playoffs and regional final. They ended 6-10 overall.

DIVISION 5-A

American Canyon 68, Palmdale 47

The Wolves not only put themselves on the map for winning their first-ever CIF state title and the first one earned by a school from Napa County, but they won in what will go down as the highest-scoring state title game in state history.

The combined point total of American Canyon and Palmdale of 115 points surpassed the previous record of 105 points for Concord De La Salle’s 63-42 victory over Corona Centennial in the 2014 Open Division title game. Head coach Trevor Hudson’s winning team also tied the single-game scoring record for a state final set by Folsom in 2014 in D1.

American Canyon (13-2) led 37-27 at halftime and both teams continued moving up and down the field in the second half with Palmdale QB Joshua Suarez passing the ball effectively. The Falcons (10-6) just couldn’t slow down the Wolves’ running game.

The Vallejo Times-Herald reported Andre Lopez with 135 yards rushing and three touchdowns for the Wolves. QB Mason Harris had a 15-yard TD pass to Kamani Santos and also rushed for 117 yards.

In games played Saturday at Fullerton UHSD Stadium:

Malachi Moore from Portola of Irvine looks for an opening during team’s game on Saturday vs Arcata. Photo: Mark Bausman / For OC Sports Zone.

Arcata 27,
Portola (Irvine) 21 (OT)

Luke Lemke has been a monster for the Tigers all season as their dual-threat QB so it was only appropriate that he would score the game-winning touchdown in overtime that gave them their first-ever CIF state title.

Lemke’s 1-yard TD came after Portola had fumbled on its second play of its series to start the overtime session. He also had the game-tying touchdown on a 33-yard run with five minutes left. Neither team was able to score in subsequent possessions that could have won the game in regulation.

According to reports in the Orange County Register, Lemke had 99 yards rushing and three TDs in the game. He also passed for 147 yards.

Portola (9-7), looking for its first CIF state title after winning the CIFSS D11 title and then winning in a regional game in overtime vs King/Drew of Los Angeles, was led by running back Diego Reyna with 122 yards rushing and two TDs. Another junior, Timothy Grettenberg, also rushed for 99 yards and one score.

Arcata wrapped up a 14-1 season with a state title. The Tigers’ only loss was to their rivals from Ferndale after they had a 35-7 win over the Wildcats earlier in the season.

DIVISION 6-A

Summerville (Tuolumne) 38, Monte Vista (Spring Valley) 21

That only other football-playing high school in tiny Tuolumne County besides Sonora in D4-A also came home from Southern California with a CIF state title. It also was the first one ever for the Bears.

The only other county in the state besides Tuolumne that had two CIF state champions this year was Orange County with Mater Dei and Edison of Huntington Beach. L.A. County, San Diego and Sacramento County all had one along with all of the others.

Monte Vista standout RB Alex Villanueva, who set the San Diego Section single-season record for rushing yards this season, was held to 76 yards on 14 carries by Summerville and ended with 3,227 for the year.

QB Bryce Leveroos, son of head coach Sean Leveroos, again was too tough to tame just like he was in the NorCal final at Sacred Heart Prep (Atherton). The San Diego Union-Tribune had Bryce with 21 carries for 169 yards and two TDs plus 159 yard passing and one score. All of Leveroos’ passing yards went to teammate Luke Larson, including a 75-yard touchdown.

The Bears wrapped up a 14-1 season while Monte Vista ended 10-6. The Monarchs were the last team to qualify for the CIF San Diego Section playoffs and ended up being the last team playing after Lincoln of San Diego won the CIF D1-AA state title on Friday.

DIVISION 7-A

Balboa (San Francisco) 55, Pioneer (Whittier) 21

Once the Bucs avenged their loss to Lincoln of San Francisco in the annual Turkey Day game, they’ve been unstoppable. They followed up that win with a 41-6 romp past Los Molinos for the NorCal title and have now added another easy victory to win the school’s second CIF state title.

The Titans (10-6) fell behind 41-6 at halftime and were no match for Balboa’s size and speed. Joseph Smith scored four TDs for the Bucs, including a 49-yard TD run with just seconds left in the first half. Rylen Thien-Jones also had a 33-yard TD pass to make it 28-0 and Mekai Smith had a 36-yard TD run to make it 14-0.

Balboa wrapped up a 9-5 season, which includes a 54-14 loss to CIF D4-AA state champion St. Vincent de Paul of Petaluma.

Note: the CIF Sac-Joaquin Section & CIF North Coast Section both had four teams win state football titles this season. The CIF Southern Section had three. Those with one were San Diego, Central, Central Coast and San Francisco. Those with zero were Northern, Oakland & L.A. City.

Mark Tennis is the co-founder and publisher of CalHiSports.com. He can be reached at markjtennis@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow Mark on the Cal-Hi Sports Twitter handle.