San Francisco Chronicle - (Sunday)
Dream come true for both QB and Marin Catholic
Michael Ingrassia completed two touchdown passes, ran for another and finished off a childhood dream by leading the Marin Catholic-Kentfield football team to a 33-14 home victory over Central Valley Christian-Visalia for the CIF State Division Division 4-AA Bowl Game championship.
Ingrassia completed touchdown passes of 31 yards to JR Bosch and 17 yards to Charles Williams to give the Wildcats (14-1) a 26-0 lead, but it was two pick-sixes that keyed the program's first state title victory.
Charlie Knapp had two interceptions, one he returned 76 yards for a score, making it 33-0 with 2:14 left in the third quarter. Earlier, Zach Taylor added a 53-yard interception return for a touchdown to start the scoring, to help erase the memory of the team's last appearance in the state finals, a 38-35 loss to Madison-San Diego in 2012.
That was Jared Goff 's last game as the Marin Catholic quarterback and about the time Ingrassia said he started dreaming about finishing off what the future NFL quarterback couldn't.
“This has been a dream since I was in youth football,” Ingrassia told Prep2Prep editor Harold Abend. “My dream was to someday come to Marin Catholic and win a state championship, and that's just what happened.”
Ingrassia, who also rushed for a touchdown, finished with 2,881 passing yards this season and 36 touchdowns. He ran for 13 touchdowns in 2021.
“He was incredible today and all season,” Marin Catholic coach Mazi Moayed said. “He's a big reason why we're here."
Central Valley Christian (11-5) scored two touchdowns late to make it respectable.
"Our defense did an incredible job today. They really stepped up against a very good team. Our coaches had to plan for so much and the players carried it out.”
7-A
Balboa 43, Taft-Woodland Hills 0: Davondre Black returned the opening kickoff 84 yards and the host Buccaneers (9-4) were off and running to claim the school's first state championship and help the Academic Athletic Association win its fourth straight state crown.
Quarterback Ben Norori completed touchdown passes to Orlindale Scott Carraway, Hamde Eid and Maurice Ali, and Black and Dontae AllenWilson rushed for scores as Balboa built a 27-0 lead in the first quarter to win for the ninth time in its last 10 games. Taft finished 7-8.
“I'm super happy for myself, our alumni, our coaches, player and Buccaneers' nation,” Balboa coach Fred Velasquez said. “To get that first score, to play so well, I'm just speechless.”
The previous AAA champs were Galileo (2017) and Lincoln (2018, 2019). There were no state championships in 2020 because of the pandemic.
5-A
Sacred Heart Prep-Atherton 16, Righetti-Santa Maria 0: Anthony Noto and Luis Mendoza scored on two short runs and Sean Tinsley kicked a field goal, and the SHP defense did the rest to win the program's first state title after losing twice in the finals. Mat Bucher had nine tackles and Andrew Rocha and Aseli Fangupo recovered fumbles for the Gators (8-7), who opened the season 1-4. Jack Herrell completed 8 of 12 passes for 139 yards for SHP. Righetti, which got 70 yards rushing from Ryan Boivin, finished 6-9.
6-A Salesian-Richmond 42, Arlington-Riverside 21: Noah Del Sol rushed for four touchdowns, Nick Fantanilla threw for more than 100 yards and a touchdown pass to Marco Turqueza, and Antonio Harris rushed for another score as the host Pride (11-2) won their second straight state title. Del Sol scored on runs of 34, 1, 7 and 6 yards and Fantanilla completed all eight of his passes in the first half when Salesian took a 28-21 hafltime lead. Arlington finished 7-9.