Honor Bowl: No 13 Bellevue extends win streak to 55 with convincing win over No. 14 Serra

Bellevue (Wash.) 31, Serra (Gardena, Calif.) 14
Follow this game on Qwixcore

OCEANSIDE, Calif. — California’s ultimate payback to Bellevue’s football team will have to wait.

Ten years to the week that they snapped De La Salle’s national-record 151-game win streak, the Wolverines continued their winning ways with a decisive and very impressive 31-14 win over Serra in the Southern California Honor Bowl's marquee match-up Saturday at Oceanside High.

Bellevue extended its win streak to 55 games, the third longest currently in the country, by doing what its done to opponents since the turn of the century when coach Butch Goncharoff took over: control the clock, dominate the line and run its Wing-T offense to near perfection.

They finished with 343 rushing yards.

"We took control early and kept the ball out of their hands," Goncharoff said. "We did what we set out to do. I'm very proud of the guys."

Sam Richmond, a not very imposing 5-foot-9, 165-pound senior back, rushed for three touchdowns, including ones of 5 and 4 yards to start the game and give Bellevue a 14-6 lead.

The Wolverines, No. 13 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 national rankings, never trailed against a team Goncharoff called the most talented a Bellevue team has ever faced.

"We've seen a lot of them," he said. "From Texas (Trinity), Long Beach Poly and obviously De La Salle. But these guys were so fast and impressive. That made this that much more satisfying."

Said Richmond: "It feels crazy good. We worked so hard in the offseason and for the guys to perform like this. It's incredible."

The defining moment of the game came right before halftime when Christoph Hirota ran it home on a misdirection play from 7 yards out to give the Wolverines a 21-6 lead and all the momentum it needed.

Time was winding down - only 7.8 seconds when the Wolverines scored - and with no timeouts, had they been stopped, they would have come away with no points. But Goncharoff called a beautifully crafted misdirection play and Bellevue was in complete control.

It was a perfect case of Bellevue being fast but not in a hurry.

"We stay calm and poised because our coaches do," Richmond said.

Though the offense was impressive, what’s often lost in Bellevue’s success is its fast, aggressive, hard-hitting defense. The Wolverines didn’t allow a touchdown until 6:54 remaining and by that time they had a comfortable 24-6 lead.

This against a Serra team with at least eight Division I players on their roster.

But the Cavaliers, who have won two California State Bowl titles in five years and have sported a 78-7 record in that time, have explosive athletes everywhere. They simply couldn’t break free of the fast and impeccably coached Wolverines.

Serra coach Scott Altenberg said Bellevue was as good as advertised, but his team simply needs time.

"We really didn't execute, especially when we had our opportunities," he said. "When you get in the red zone you have to score touchdowns. Good, experienced confidence teams do that - guys who have done it before - and we don't have those guys yet. But we'll get there."

Bellevue has won 12 state titles and 11 since 2001 when Goncharoff took over as head coach. As impressive as that,  the Wolverines have now won four of five games against California foes. Goncharoff downplayed the team's success against the Golden State.

"We're past all that," he said. "We're just about playing good teams and great events like this. This was a real neat deal in all ways. We've had a blast."

After Serra closed to 24-14 with 6:54 left on a 6-yard run by Job Mcginity followed by a 2-point conversion, Bellevue put it away with a beautiful 70-yard drive capped by Richmond’s third TD run, a 2-yarder, making it 31-14 with 4:00 left.

"I can't say enough about our line - they really did all the work," Richmond said.

Goncharoff echoed praise for the offensive front.

"Our guys we're really coming off the line against guys who were 30-40 pounds bigger than them," he said. "They played great from the get go and we just grinded it out from there."

Centennial (Corona, Calif.) 52, Orange Lutheran (Orange) 49
Follow this game on Qwixcore:

Now this is what Centennial games are supposed to look like.

The Huskies (1-1), coming off a disheartening 38-18 opener, piled up 643 yards — and gave up 521 — in a tremendous 51-48 win over a very game Orange Lutheran squad.

Diminutive 5-foot-6, 160-pound scatback JJ Taylor rushed 22 times for 266 yards, including a backbreaking 79-yard scamper on a 3rd-and-10 call and 2:37 left. to play. It was the first third-and-long situation all day for the Huskies, who didn't punt all day, so when Taylor got his number called what was he thinking?

 "I was thinking I had to go the bathroom," Taylor said. "I just wanted to get to the end zone and go pee."

There's something you don't hear every day.

And you don't see many games like as both teams zipped up and down the field, though Orange Lutheran, which got 164 yards rushing and two touchdown from team game MVP Patrick Reardon

Lutheran, in fact, responded quickly to Taylor's long touchdown run of the game - he also broke off 55-yard TD run in the third quarter — and closed to within a field goal on a 10-yard touchdown run by Elijah Bynum with 29.9 seconds to play.

But Centennial recovered the ensuing onside kick to finish off a game that featured 1,164 yards, 14 touchdowns, a field goal and a missed PAT.

It was the first time the two very successful programs met. They should meet more often.

"It was a great high school football game," Huskies coach Matt Logan said. "Orange Lutheran is a fantastic team and well coached. We executed much better in all offensive phases today. We grew up a lot."

Said Reardon, who broke off a 55-yard touchdown run in the second quarter: "We would have liked to win, but it was a great game. I'm proud to be a part of it."

Toughest schedule in California?: Even America? Centennial may stake a claim as it opened with a 38-18 loss to nation's No. 16 team Mater Dei (Santa Ana, Calif.) Orange Lutheran is No. 26 in the state according to the MaxPreps computer rankings (look for them to move up). Next week the Huskies host Bishop Gorman (Las Vegas, Nev.), No. 8 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 national rankings, and No. 1 by USA Today. And then they close out their nonleague season with Long Beach Poly (Calif.), No. 25 in the nation.

Centennial, always loaded with excellent athletes and one of the best offensive systems in the country, normally would have little trouble with such a daunting task. But the Huskies have nine new offensive starters with just one returning lineman and no returners in the backfield.

"It's a tough learning curve for a bunch of new kids," Centennial Athletic Director Bill Gunn said. "But we'll definitely be good by league time."

Logan on facing perhaps the No. 1 team in the country in Gorman: "They're loaded. They're big and fast and well coached. It will take huge effort to slow them down."

When Logan thought about it, "Sounds like about everyone on our schedule." He smiled.

College programs: Walk a sideline of a Orange Lutheran and Centennial game and it has the feel and look of college game. Centennial has 96 on its roster, Orange Lutheran 91.

News and notes: With eight new starters on offense and two new quarterbacks, the Huskies predictably struggled against Mater Dei. But not Saturday. Logan alternated quarterbacks, starting with Anthony Catalano, an experienced Centennial signal-caller and at 5-10, 165 in the mold of the last two Husky quarterbacks Robert Webber (5-10, 170) and Hayden Gavett (5-9, 170). "I stay in contact with those guys all the time," said Catalano, who was undefeated as freshmen and JV quarterbacks. "They give me advice. I totally trust in coach Logan and how he uses us. He's giving us both opportunities." ... The other quarterback, transfer Nate Ketteringham, is a more traditional 6-4 and 190. Both were effective Saturday. Ketteringham run for touchdowns of 6 and 7 yards. ... Orange Lutheran junior quarterback LJ Northington, a 6-2, 190-pound southpaw, looked very solid as both a passer and runner throwing for 178 yards and rushing for 40 more.

Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) 28, Oaks Christian (Westlake Village) 21
Follow this game on Qwixcore

A week after getting torched by California's career yardage and touchdown passer Jake Browning at Folsom, Cathedral Catholic showed its mettle and made another big statement for San Diego Section football.

Carter Hamilton scored on a 5-yard run with two minutes, 28 seconds left and Currie Thomason added two other TD runs as the Cathedral fought from behind to defeat Southern Section mainstay Oaks Christian.

Last week, Folsom defeated Cathedral Catholic 55-10 and Browning threw for 520 yards and seven touchdowns. On Saturday, the Dons did a superb job holding down Oaks Christian's passing attack. An interception by game team MVP Tyson Maeva set up Cathedral Catholic's game-winning drive.

The win was the third straight by the San Diego Section, which often takes a backseat to the dominating Southern Section.

"We play some pretty good football down here too," Cathedral coach Sean Doyle said. "It's a good win for our area but really good for us after what happened last week. I don't think that was so much us as (Folsom). They're really good and that quarterback (Browning) might be the best I've every seen in 29 years of coaching. He's the whole package."

Oaks Christian quarterback Holden Thomas did throw for 325 yards, but on 48 attempts. He threw short TD passes to Michael Pittman and Trevor Howard and also rushed for a score. But Cathedral Catholic, which committed three turnovers early, leading to their deficit, made the stops when it needed to.

"Twenty-one points isn't going to get it done," Thomas said. "So that's on me. We didn't get it done. ... I needed to do more."

Maeva, picked as a team MVP, said it was great for his defense to make some big plays down the stretch.

"Especially after what happened to us last week," he said. "(Oaks Christian) is a great team and they have a great offense, so this feels great. It's good we can help our offense. We made so many mistakes last week. This week we came together."

The defense made one last big save late, sacking Thomas on a potential game-tying, last minute drive. He fumbled and Trevor Brown recovered.

Cathedral Catholic ran out the clock from there.

"We got pushed to the limit and that was a good thing," Thomason said. "We're learning a lot about ourselves. This win should give us a lot of confidence."