Serra routs Cajon to win Div. 2-AA state football title
Rango’s kickoff return late in third quarter helps Padres reclaim the lead, momentum
SACRAMENTO >> The state championship Serra intended to bring back to San Mateo was slipping away Friday night. Turnovers and bad breaks wiped away a twotouchdown lead as the third quarter was starting to wind down.
The sagging momentum called for a big play, something to reignite a deflating team.
Malakai Rango responded with a kickoff return they’ll never forget at Serra, a 72-yard burst of lightning that ended 3 yards from the end zone.
The Padres reclaimed the lead two snaps later, then scored again and again and again.
One year after a crushing loss in a state title game on this same field, Serra claimed its first state crown, winning the Division 2-AA championship with a 38-14 victory over high-powered Cajon-San Bernardino at Sacramento State’s Hornet Stadium.
“We’ve talked about this all year,” coach Patrick Walsh said. “In games like this, it’s the bottom of the fire, it’s the embers, that light the entire fire. The top of the fire is the Patrick Nunns and the Luke Bottaris and all these great players. Those are the type of moments, like last week when Brendon Carbullido caught Kazmeir Allen in a 14-14 game.
“These are the names that resonate in championship games. That kickoff return was magical.” The big names came to play, too. Isiah Kendrick rushed for three touchdowns and caught a touchdown pass.
David Coker scored the touchdown that broke a 14-14 tie and provided lots of blue-collar running.
And the defense turned in what Walsh described as a masterpiece.
Nunn — who promised his brother, former Serra quarterback Leki Nunn, that he would bring home the title after last year’s final left Leki in tears — played cornerback for the first time Friday and helped keep 6-foot-8 receiver Darren Jones from dominating the game.
Edmond Lahlouh had 14 tackles, four behind the line of scrimmage, and 2.5 sacks.
Tevesi Vakalahi had 11 tackles, 10 solo, 1.5 for loss, and a sack.
“We had it in our minds to come out here and prove that we are one of the top teams in the state,” Nunn said.
Serra (13-2) scored first on a 14yard pass from Bottari to Kendrick midway through the first quarter. The Padres added a second touchdown in the middle of the second quarter on Kendrick’s 2-yard run.
But the half ended in a bad way for Serra.
Twenty-four yards from taking a three-score lead into halftime, Serra gave the ball back to Cajon when Bottari’s pass was intercepted by Rodney Robinson and returned to midfield.
If that weren’t bad enough, it got even worse for Serra three plays later. On the final play of the half, with Cajon still near midfield, Jones took a direct route down the right sideline.
Quarterback Jayden Daniels waited and waited and then tossed the ball toward the right corner of the end zone, the same end zone in which Valley Christian nearly won a state championship here last season with a Hail Mary.
Serra had four defenders near Jones but natural ability took over. The lengthy receiver out-jumped all four defenders for the ball, the improbable completion cutting Serra’s two-touchdown lead in half as the teams went to the locker room.
Think about that for a second. Seconds earlier, Serra was in position to perhaps go ahead 21-0 at the break, knowing it would get the ball to start the second half.
Instead, the Padres led only 14-7 against an opponent that obviously knew a thing or two about scoring. Cajon entered the game having scored 734 points through 15 games, an average of 49 per contest.
“At halftime in the locker room, coach Walsh told us to keep our eyes down, keep focused, just focus on executing,” Nunn said.
Serra reached the 1 on its first series of the second half, only to fumble the ball away.
Cajon (14-2) took advantage, driving 99 yards in 15 plays to even the score 14-14 on Daniels’ 6-yard run with 3:30 left in the third quarter.
All the momentum was on Cajon’s side. That is, until Rango caught the ensuing kickoff near the left sideline and found space to run. He veered across the field and down the right sideline before going down at the 3.
“I saw the hole, hit the hole and I didn’t want to go down,” said Rango, who also had a touchdownsaving tackle in the first quarter. “I stayed up. I should have scored, though.”
The touchdown came two plays later, and Serra did not stop until the state championship trophy that fell through its grasp last season was firmly in its possession.
Coker finished with 142 yards and a touchdown in 13 carries. Kendrick ran for 110 yards and three touchdowns in 26 carries. Bottari threw for 117 yards on 10of-13 passing.
Both sides had three turnovers. Serra obviously won’t think about its giveaways. That was clear as each player took individual pictures with the trophy in Sacramento State’s weight room 30 minutes after the game.
The Padres will think about the journey, the grind that began with a one-sided loss to St. Mary’sStockton in August and included the program’s first outright West Catholic Athletic League championship in 48 years.
It will think about Friday, the kickoff return, Kendrick and Coker and a defense led by Nunn and Lahlouh.
“I’ll call that a defensive masterpiece for the ages,” Walsh said. “Coach Chris Vasseur is one of the most talented coaches in high school football. The kids believe in him. It was a great game plan. We called everyone across the country. How would you deal with these amazing football players?”