Pittsburg impresses to reach title game
Pittsburg’s first experience in CIF regional football games wasn’t just good. It was great.
Justin Boyd threw three touchdown passes, two to his cousin A’jae Boyd, and Willie Harts caught a TD pass and ran for another score to lead the Pirates (9-2) to a 37-14 victory at Granite Bay in the North Regional Division 1-A final Saturday night.
Granite Bay (12-3), the SacJoaquin Section Division 2 champions, had won four of five meetings between the schools.
But the Boyds combined on scoring tosses of 48 and 73 yards, Harts caught a 29-yard TD pass and scored on a 1-yard run in the third quarter, and Pittsburg’s defense did the rest, holding Granite Bay to one offensive touchdown.
Pittsburg plays NarbonneHarbor City (11-3), a 56-14 winner over Paraclete-Lancaster, in Saturday’s 4 p.m. state title game at Sacramento State.
“That was a good one,” Pittsburg coach Vic Galli said. “We got contributions all around. Our defense was lights-out.”
The Pirates raced to leads of 17-0 and 24-7 before Granite Bay got a 29-yard TD pass by Jake Foddrill to Ryan Smith to close to 24-14.
But the Boyds responded with a 73-yard scoring connection, putting Pittsburg back in command. Darrion Bartley added a 3-yard TD run.
“This is one of our best defensive lines ever, and they showed it tonight,” said Galli, praising ends Timote Finau and Michael Pryor and tackles Jacob Bandes and De’Jon Benton.
Division 2-A
St. Francis 28, Manteca 23: Darrell Page rushed for 228 yards and two touchdowns as the visiting Lancers (10-4) held off Manteca (12-3) and now face Grace Brethren-Simi Valley
(13-2) in Saturday’s noon state title game at Sacramento State. Nicholas Robinson scored on a 1-yard run and Page added a 51-yard touchdown jaunt to put St. Francis up 14-3. Trabon Russel cut the lead to 14-10 with a 4-yard run, but St. Francis quarterback Reed Vettel countered with a 6-yard scoring pass to Evan Williams to make it 21-10 early in the third quarter. Gino Campiotti’s 19-yard scoring pass to Carter Williams cut the deficit to 21-17, before Page scored his second TD on a 19yard run with one minute left in the third, making it 28-17. St. Francis’ defense stiffened before Campiotti connected on a 35-yard TD pass to Jacob De Jesus to make it 28-23 with 1:19 left, but St. Francis got the onside kick.
Division 3-A
Half Moon Bay 28, Sutter 7: Chase Hofmann rushed for two touchdowns and Gavin Tomberlin passed for a score and ran for another as the host Cougars (14-0) cruised into next week’s state title game at Steele Canyon-Spring Valley (11-4), a 28-26 winner over El Modena-Orange (12-3). Hofmann scored on runs of 3 and 6 yards, giving him 36 rushing TDs. Sutter (12-2) got a
4-yard TD run from Grever Facey in the third quarter.
Division 6-A
Galileo 20, Rio Vista 14: Yarvell Smith scored on an 8-yard run early in the fourth quarter, breaking a 14-14 tie and giving the visiting Lions (10-2) the first regional win by an Academic Athletic Association team in its first try. AAA Defensive Player of the Year Jimmy Edwards (12 tackles, 3.5 sacks) forced a fumble deep in Rio Vista territory, setting up Smith’s TD. “Our defense really stepped up,” said Galileo coach Mark Huynh. “All the kids did. They stepped outside of their normal boundaries at a foreign place to them and really rallied together. It was impressive.” Down 8-0, Galileo tied it late in the first quarter on a 12-yard pass from Adrian Poot to Smith, followed by a Poot two-point conversion. Rio Vista (9-4) took back the lead 14-8 on a 13-yard TD run by Ryan Hurley before the Lions tied it 14-14 on a 2-yard pick-six by Jackie Guo before the end of the half. “That was huge,” Huynh said. “They passed out of their own end zone and Jackie jumped the route. That gave us lots of momentum the second half.” Galileo travels to Vincent Memorial-Calexico (12-2), a 40-18 winner over Huntington Beach, for Saturday’s state title game.
Division 3-AA
Shasta-Redding 40, Marin Catholic-Kentfield 27: Vinny Smith rushed 37 times for 188 yards and two TDs and Seth Park added 17 carries for 127 yards and a score as host Shasta (12-1) piled up more than 500 yards of offense to win going away. Oregon State-bound quarterback Spencer Petras threw for 227 yards and three scores in the first half, but was only 2 -for-15 passing in the second. Petras started hot, needing just 1:44 to get the Wildcats (12-1) on the board with a 12-yard TD pass to Ben Skinner. It was the last time Marin Catholic would lead. Ian Garcia, who threw for 128 yards and three scores for Shasta, tied the game with a 36-yard TD pass to Park. Petras connected on TD passes of 53 yards to Spencer Lauer and 5 yards to Peter Brown to close to 21-20 at half. Shasta scored 19 straight before Anthony Marino’s 7-yard run with 4:27 left.