Serra coach didn’t tap out of weary season
Patrick Walsh’s eyes welled with tears on the floor of Saddleback College’s pristine football stadium late Saturday night. The Serra coach had watched his team predictably get handled 44-7 by the nation’s No. 1 squad, Mater Dei-Santa Ana, in the state Open Division title game.
The emotion had almost nothing to do with the loss — the Padres weren’t expected to be particularly competitive against a team with at least 30 future FBS players — but rather this was the end of prep football’s longest season, two morphed into one starting in the spring.
Between the two seasons, the Padres played 18 games in 2021, others played up to 20.
“We came in here to fight,” Walsh said when pressed about taking on a seemingly unbeatable opponent. “We came here to win and clearly we were not good enough to do that. But our spirit was never broken. I love my team.”
The Padres, like all teams that finished Saturday, dealt with COVID-19-related issues throughout the seasons, primarily testing and protocol restrictions. Walsh spent last winter and spring organizing coaches and parents across the state to plead, beg, demand and educate decision-makers to give California’s student-athletes a season.
He helped succeed in that. At the cost of sheer exhaustion.
So to finish against a team with superior talent and depth was par for the course. He had spent the week persuading his boys to fight one more week at their highest level. And even in a 37-point loss, they did.
“High school football is much more than hoisting trophies,” he said. “At Serra, we believe in what we do — to build young men. … We could have tapped out so many times in this game and we didn’t. That’s something to be proud of.”
⏩ It wasn’t the Gatorade bath Sacred Heart Cathedral coach Barry McLaughlin received after his team won the state 4-A state championship (beating Northview-Corona 48-29 at Kezar Stadium) that made him so proud, but rather who gave it to him.
Members from his 2016 team — his first as head coach — sneaked behind the SHC bench and doused him in the closing minute. “They’re the ones who laid the foundation,” McLaughlin said.
SHC quarterback Ray-John Spears, who started the season as a wide receiver, finished his senior season in style: 15-for-22, 305 yards and five touchdowns. “We did a lot of shuffling of things when we started at 0-5 but switching Ray-John to quarterback was definitely a key,” McLaughlin said.
The football team’s title was the 10th state crown for SHC, joining five girls basketball teams (1998, 2006-07-08, 2016), girls volleyball (2014), boys basketball (2009) and two track and field titles from Shannon Rowbury.
⏩ West Catholic Athletic League Player of the Year Viliami “JuJu” Teu announced on Twitter he’ll sign his letter of intent Wednesday to San Jose State. The 5-foot-11, 195pound senior set St. Francis records with 28 touchdowns and 2,707 total yards ( 2,210 rushing).
Most of the Metro’s top prospects will sign during the early period starting Wednesday, including De La Salle-Concord cornerback Zeke Berry (Michigan) and tight end Brodie Tagaloa (Nebraska), Serra utility player Hassan Mahasan (San Diego State), Benicia safety Croix Stewart (UCLA) and Menlo-Atherton cornerback Jeremiah Earby (Cal) and wide receiver Jalen Moss (Fresno State).
⏩ Lowell senior QB Reese Miller is the Academic Athletic Association Player of the Year. Miller (1,509 yards, 18 TDs) led the Cardinals to a 6-5 record, their first winning season since 2007. Other AAA Players of the Year: Adrian Navarro (Lowell, offensive back), Joshua Mah (Lincoln, defensive back), Amonte Oglivie (Lincoln, defensive player), Santiago Alvarez (Balboa, offensive lineman), Justin Seumanu (Balboa, defensive lineman), Elyjah Qasevakatini (Washington, linebacker), and Charles Webb (Mission, receiver).
Bay Area football coaches are encouraged to either fill out all season statistics at MaxPreps.com and nominate their All-Metro nominees at mstephens@maxpreps.com.