Serra’s historic season culminates against Cajon
Serra isn’t playing with house money, says coach Patrick Walsh.
Completing the Padres’ already greatest season with a win Friday over Cajon-San Bernardino (14-1) at Sacramento State won’t be icing on the cake or gravy on the potatoes.
It won’t be spilt milk, either, if they come up short in the CIF Division 2-AA state title game.
“We’re planning to put all our cards on the table and hopefully we score more points than Cajon,” Walsh said. “The reality is, it may not happen. Because it’s for a state championship.
“And Cajon looks like an NFL team.”
Walsh was sort of laughing when comparing the Cowboys with, say, America’s team, but when describing some of their stars, NFL names kept arising.
Like 6-foot-3, 175-pound dual-threat quarterback Jayden Daniels, who has completed 293 of 418 passes for 4,795 yards and 61 touchdowns against four measly interceptions. Daniels has thrown for more than 300 yards eight times, more than 400 yards three times, and 567 yards on 31 for 38 attempts and six scores in the team’s only loss, 49-46 to Murrieta Valley.
When he’s not lighting up secondaries, he’s scrambling past front sevens with 1,216 yards and 14 TDs, including a 281-yard, 4-TD performance while beating Downey 54-28 in the Southern Section final.
Walsh was exhausted just trying to describe Daniels, who has an offer from Arizona.
“He’s RG3 or Deshaun Watson,” Walsh said. “He scrambles to throw, he looks down field, but if he can’t find anyone, he’s so fast no one can catch him.
“Last week, we played the fastest kid I’ve ever played against (Tulare Union’s Kazmeir Allen, who broke the national record for touchdowns in a season with 72). We worried every time he touched the ball, he was going to score. Great. Now, we’re playing the same kid but he plays quarterback and touches it every down.”
Daniels’ favorite target is 6-8, 190-pound junior Darren Jones, who has caught 92 passes for 1,962 passes and 27 touchdowns. They call him “Baby Moss,” after Randy Moss. He’s a national football and basketball recruit.
“What an athlete,” Walsh said. “Soft hands. Goes up and gets it. He’s a total mismatch for any DB.”
The only one who might be able to defend him is teammate Jhevon Hill, a 6-3, 185-pound safety. The three-sport standout, who has three interceptions and nine pass deflections, is an Arizona commit.
The team’s most soughtafter defender is 6-6, 245pound senior defensive end Jeremiah Martin, who has recorded — get this — 30.5 sacks among his 82 tackles. He has 17 offers from schools including Alabama, Oklahoma and Michigan.
“He’s like Lawrence Taylor out there destroying people,” Walsh said.
That has been a good description of what Serra has been doing to defenses in Northern California.
The Padres (12-2) are coming off a school record for points in a 76-43 regional win over Tulare Union. Their 12th win was also a school mark.
They’ve won 11 straight games, including 10 games against West Catholic Athletic League schools (a WCAL record), and had running clocks in seven games.
The offense, led by super accurate quarterback Luke Bottari (2,733 yards, 25 TDs), breakaway back Isiah Kendrick (193 carries, 1,520 yards, 27 TDs) and a quartet of superb receivers including Patrick Nunn (61 catches, 843 yards, 9 TDs), has been remarkably efficient and explosive.
The Padres broke virtually every WCAL offensive record and have scored 594 points, which pales in comparison with Cajon’s 734.
The Cowboys, in fact, also put up 70 points in its regional win, which points to an even greater offensive showcase than Serra’s 42-40 loss to Sierra Canyon-Chatsworth in last year’s state 2-A title game, also at Sacramento State.
“Both teams might get to 50 in this one,” Walsh said. “As long as we get one more point than Cajon, we’ll be happy.”