3 Metro teams advance to state finals
In the California Interscholastic Federation’s new 13-bowl-game format, the Metro Area will play in almost half of the championships.
Sacred Heart Prep-Atherton (Division 3-A), Clayton Valley-Concord (1-A) and St. Francis (2-A) all advanced Saturday night. They join De La Salle-Concord (Large Open), Bellarmine (1-AA) and Campolindo-Moraga (3-AA), each of which qualified earlier.
De La Salle, Clayton Valley and Bellarmine will play in state bowl title games next weekend at Sacramento State, and the rest will travel to various sites in Southern California.
Sacred Heart Prep (11-3) earned its second bowl bid in three seasons with a 56-20 win over McClymonds-Oakland (12-1) at Independence High in San Jose as Lapitu Mahoni rushed for four touchdowns and Mason Randall threw for three.
Mahoni, who came in with 1,555 yards and 26 touchdowns, scored on runs of 2, 2, 3 and 17 yards, and Randall completed TD passes of 55, 52 and 8 yards for the Gators, who raced to a 42-14 halftime lead.
Tight end Andrew Daschbach, a Stanford baseball commit, caught two of the scoring passes.
McClymonds got a 25-yard TD run by Oakland Athletic League Player of the Year Jerrell Alberty and an 85-yard kickoff return for a touchdown by Derrick Purvis in the first half. Purvis added a 20-yard TD catch in the second half.
SHP will play Rancho Bernardo-San Diego (12-2), a 31-30 winner over Oak Hills-Hesperia, on Saturday. Clayton Valley 21, Oak Grove-San Jose 3: A big early strike and two little ones later helped the visiting Eagles (13-1) advance to the state final. Zia Rahmany threw a 75-yard touchdown pass to Akeal Lalaind, who later scored on a 1-yard run, and Jake Peralta added an 11-yard TD run against a team that had won 11 straight. Oak Grove (11-3) had averaged 48 points per game over the previous six weeks but managed just a second-quarter field goal. Clayton Valley, ravaged by injuries throughout the season, lost in last year’s state D2 bowl championship 34-33 to Redlands East Valley. Clayton Valley will play Narbonne-Harbor City (13-2), a 35-20 winner over Ridgeview-Bakersfield, in the state final. St. Francis 29, Pleasant Valley-Chico 7: Darius Thomas caught touchdown passes of 42, 33 and 30 yards from Kamalii Akina as the Lancers (12-2) beat the Vikings (12-1) at Harrison Stadium in Oroville. St. Francis, coming off a loss to Oak Grove in a Central Coast Section final, will play Citrus Hill-Perris (13-2), a 56-21 winner over Calabasas. Lutoviko Ahoia added a 3yard TD run for St. Francis, which also recorded a safety. Pleasant Valley’s Jordan Cooley scored on a 5-yard run in the third quarter to cut the Lancers’ lead to 22-7. Ahoia’s TD clinched the win. Central Catholic-Modesto 49, Marin Catholic-Kentfield 14: Fresno State-bound running back Justin Rice rushed 34 times for 328 yards and five touchdowns as the host Raiders (15-0) defeated the Wildcats (12-2) in the Open Division north regional. Rice scored on runs of 6, 42, 38, 8 and 9 yards for the three-time defending state champs. Darius-James Peterson rushed 18 times for 118 yards and a touchdown and threw for 142 yards for Marin Catholic. Peterson’s 2yard TD run with 35 seconds left in the first half cut Central Catholic’s lead to 28-14. But Rice’s fourth TD gave Central Catholic all the momentum it would need. Jake Laudenslager had a 2-yard TD run for Marin Catholic.