Friday Gameday Recap: Cal steps up, beats La Serna to secure playoff spot; St. Paul makes its case and La Mirada gets a share of Suburban title
The regular season is in the books and California will keep playing after winning the "Battle of the Boulevards" with rival La Serna to secure a spot in the CIF-SS party, better known as the divisional playoffs...St. Paul, which will probably be on the outside looking in on Sunday, stated a case for playoff consideration by rallying to beat Harvard-Westlake. La Mirada also enjoyed a big win, beating Norwalk to secure a tri-Suburban League title with Mayfair and Bellflower. Also, Whittier Christian threw away a shot at a top four seed in the Mid-Valley Division with a loss to Village Christian.
Here's a brief look at Friday's games:
No. 2 St. Paul 41, Harvard-Westlake 28 -- Mairjon Ancich may have coached his last game, but if so, he went out a winner. Now the question is do the Swordsmen, who got 347 yards from Paul Telles, receive an at-large entry to the Western Division playoffs. CIF-SS tradition says no. But I guess we find out Sunday.
No. 4 La Mirada 49, Norwalk 21 -- The Mats, getting 90 yards and two TDs from Johnny Hills, are a team nobody wants to play in the playoffs after enjoying another dominating win.
Village Chr. 25, No. 5 Whittier Chr. 14 -- This one could have playoff implications. The Heralds, if you listen to some, could have earned a top four seed for the playoffs, which is now gone. But I still like this team to make a deep playoff run, no matter what my Trib co-horts think.
California 14, La Serna 13 -- The playoffs won't be a California dream, which earned a spot when Michael Davis broke free and blocked a game-tying conversion kick to preserve the victory with 45 seconds left. The win puts Cal as the No. 2 team from the Del Rio, dropping La Serna to No. 3, and Whittier out. The Cardinals can still get an at-large spot.
Cantwell 29, La Salle 12 -- The Cardinals finished the regular season with a win. But this one ended ugly after the game with a brawl that resulted in police officers intervenes.
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About this blog
Steve Ramirez is the prep sports editor for the Whittier Daily News.
Why should SP make the playoffs? They didn't beat anyone with a winning record and they came in 4th in league. Stay home midgets.
CAL/LS was definitely a dog fight last night. You have to give Cal credit for getting the win it needed. When the pressure is all on one team, that's when you see what teams are made of and Cal proved they have a lot of pride and heart with the win.
La Serna didn't play it's best game and their game plan all the way around looked off. On offense, their running game was okay and relied on that more than the passing game (might have to do with the fact the Lancers top receiver is out for the season with injury). Offensively, I believe it had to do with a mix of LS not having its top receiver, La Serna's play calling being very vanilla and Cal's run defense (they really didn't get pressure on Palmer, I don't believe he was sacked last might).
BUT while you do give Cal credit, this game was lost at the hands of coach Beltran. With a game tied 7-7 in the third quarter and you're on your own 35-40 yard line who in their right mind goes for a fake punt? La Serna's defense was doing a good job at that point and Cal's offense hadn't had a good drive since the first one of the game where La Serna's kicker had a short kick on the kickoff.
That fake punt fails and you give Cal the ball in great field position and it took less than three plays to score. That was undoubtedly the worst coaching decision I've seen all season from any team in the Del Rio League. Beltran gave Cal the lead and they were able to hold on in the end off a blocked etra point with about 45 seconds left.
Again, good game by both teams and good luck to SF, LS, and Cal in the playoffs!
@Nate
All i know is La Mirada won the coin toss for 1st place. Dont know who got 2nd or 3rd.
@LS
Your 2nd Del Rio Loss. Wow
Steve, do you know how the Suburban ended up? Did they coin flip for the 1, 2 & 3 spot?
What did I say, LH, Amat and Servite cannot plan for us SP on any given game. ok bring your hate because it does not matter………………… Many football players are coming next year and most from Amat, SV, L. Cubes.
It's too bad all the teams in the area can't play in that weak Freeway League.
Can't wait to see LH in the State Championships games in December- oh, wait; it'll NEVER happen for a D6 team no matter how many championships they have. They might as well be playing 8-man football!
yea SP, let's all go see how it is done.... St Paul not making the playoffs again!
Everyone come and see how its done, are win we be great.Because this is how we "SP" do it!!