Los Osos-Upland CIF title football game: December 2009 Archives

Little bit late, but had to get the story for the print edition done.

Total yards: Los Osos 184, Upland 363.
Rushes-yards: Los Osos 21-133, Upland 37-217
Passing yards: Los Osos 51, Upland 146
Att-Com-Int: Los Osos 7-21-1, Upland 9-15-0
Turnovers: Los Osos 2, Upland 3
Penalties: Los Osos 5-40, Upland 10-76

Individual
Passing
Los Osos: Blake Loncar 7-21-1-51.
Upland: Justin Nunes 9-15-0-146.

Rushing
Los Osos: Cody Rogina 16-113, Kori Grant 2-9, Loncar 9-7
Upland: Corey Sims 10-91, Walkeem McDonald 8-69, Gianni Olivas 9-39, Cole Chapman 8-25

Receiving
Los Osos: Matt Sallis 2-22, Sean Alston 2-12
Upland: Dilan Clark 3-3, Aaron Hale 2-13, Gianni Olivas 2-6, Anthony King 1-71

They are starting to play Queen's "We are the Champions" on the Upland side and for good reason, as Aaron Hale picked off Blake Loncar's desperation pass at the Highlander 14 with 17 seconds left to seal Upland's 19-7 win and head coach Tim Salter's 3rd CIF championship.

Gianni Olivas just scored on a 3-yard run with 2:01 left, putting Upland up 19-7 after the Highlanders missed the 2-point conversion. The Highlanders marched 78 yards on 10 plays, all on the ground, to get the score. So barring a miracle - and considering that the Los Osos offense hasn't scored on Upland in 7-plus quarters, that's exactly what it would take - Upland is set to win its first CIF crown since 2000.

The Highlanders are looking to choke Los Osos out at this point, as they have used the running of Corey Sims, Walkeem McDonald and Gianni Olivas to move from their own 22 to the Los Osos 17 with 3:00 left. Sims just broke a 20-yard run to get the Highlanders in the red zone and Los Osos is in time-out mode. A score here pretty much seals this up with Upland up 13-7.

The Grizzlies used three runs by Cody Rogina to move to the Upland 41, but on 3rd-and-3, Upland defensive lineman Gregory Triay sacked Blake Loncar, forcing yet another Grizzly punt.

Upland ball up 13-7 with 5:55 left.

A missed exchange between Kori Grant and Cody Rogina out of the "Wildcat" formation caused a Los Osos fumble, which Upland LB Anthony King recovered at the Grizzly 24.

After an illegal procedure penalty, Upland gave the ball right back, as Cole Chapman fumbled an exchange from Justin Nunes which Garrett Tobin recovered for the Grizzlies.

Los Osos ball down 13-7 with 8:48 left.

Upland has the ball 2nd-and-5 on its 44 as we head into the final period with the Highlanders up 13-7. The Highlanders forced Los Osos into a 3-and-out after scoring the touchdown, with Fred Green coming up with Upland's third sack of Blake Loncar.

Upland tight end Anthony King caught a 71-yard touchdown pass from Justin Nunes, putting the Highlanders up 13-7 after a missed extra point. On 3rd-and-2, Nunes hit King on a stop pattern at the 36. King dodged a tackler and outran the remainder of the Los Osos defense for the score.

13-7 Upland, 2 minutes left in the 3rd quarter.

Walkeem McDonald broke a 20-yard run on Upland's first play of the second half but crapped out after that, punting back to the Grizzlies. Los Osos proceeded to go 3-and-out on its possession, necessitating a punt.

Still 7-7, 3:10 left in the third.

Los Osos got a couple first downs on its first drive of the second half, but a sack by Gianni Olivas on Blake Loncar left the Grizzlies in a 3rd-and-long situation which they could not convert.

Upland now has its first second-half possession with the game tied 7-7 and 8 minutes left in the third.

This is what I got right now. Second half about to start.

First downs: Los Osos 5, Upland 6
Total yards: Los Osos 75, Upland 163
Rushes-yards: Los Osos 12-45, Upland 17-99
Passing yards: Los Osos 30, Upland 64
Att-Com-Int: Los Osos 5-14-0, Upland 5-9-0
Turnovers: Los Osos 0, Upland 2
Penalties-yards: Los Osos 4-30, Upland 7-51

Individual

Passing
Los Osos: Blake Loncar 5-14-0-30
Upland: Justin Nunes 5-9-0-64

Rushing
Los Osos: Cody Rogina 8-39, Blake Loncar 3-3, Victor Smith 1-3
Upland: Corey Sims 7-56, Walkeem McDonald 4-25, Gianni Olivas 3-17, Cole Chapman 1-1, Aaron Hale 1-1, Justin Nunes 1-(-1)

Receiving
Los Osos: Sean Alston 2-12, Matt Sallis 1-9, Zach Martin 1-6, Rogina 1-(-3)
Upland: Dilan Clark 3-33, Kenneth Lawler 1-23, Olivas 1-8

The Grizzlies drove to the Upland 42 using dink and dunk passes right before the half, but were eventually forced to punt. Upland kneeled it out, leaving the CIF-SS Central Division title game tied 7-7 at the half.

Tony Washington picked up a Corey Sims fumble out of mid-air and rumbled 41 yards for a touchdown, tying things up at 7-7 with 5:08 left. Upland called a toss to Sims, who was smacked by a couple of Los Osos defenders to force the fumble. The ball popped into Washington's arms and he did the rest, giving Los Osos its first score against Upland this season.

The Highlanders marched 76 yards in 9 plays, capped by a 7-yard touchdown run by Corey Sims on a toss sweep to take a 7-0 lead. Sims dominated the drive, rushing five times for 50 yards culminated with the touchdown. Justin Nunes also hit Kenneth Lawler on a 23-yard pass in the drive.

Los Osos ball, 7-0 Upland, 7:04 left in the first half.

Los Osos started another drive with great field position, this time at its own 49, but wasn't able to do anything with it, going 3-and-out. Los Osos' starting field position thus far has been at its own 47, while Upland has started on average at its own 23.

Upland ball, 0-0, 9:06 left in the 2nd.

The second quarter starts with Upland facing a 3rd-and-26 from its own 11-yard line. The Highlanders have had a sloppy start, comitting six penalties for 41 yards and losing a fumble.

The Grizzlies drove to the Upland 20 with their second possession before settiling for a 37-yard field goal attempt by Andres Magallon. But Upland linebacker Shane Pincin came in off the right side and blocked the kick, leaving the game scoreless with 1:25 left in the first quarter.

Los Osos got the first down after the recovered fumble but the Highlander D bowed up, forcing the Grizzlies to punt. Los Osos QB Blake Loncar was sacked by a host of Highlanders led by Marcus Gluck on a 2nd-and-5 from the Upland 45, killing whatever momentum the Grizzlies had built up from the turnover.

Upland is now punting on its 2nd possession. Scoreless tie, 4:44 left in the first.

Upland looked to have something going, as Justin Nunes hit Dilan Clark on a 21-yard pass down to the Grizzly 35. But Clark was stripped of the ball, which Connor Jahnke recovered and returned five yards to the 40.

Los Osos ball at midfield. 0-0, 8:10 left in the first.

I published my first entry a little late - must be having pre-game jitters of my own. Anyway, the national anthem was just sung by some Upland student and the teams are about to do the coin flip.

The student doing the national anthem had a good voice, but she seemed to miss a line near the end. We'll see if that's karma for the Highlanders. Kickoff to come in about 5 minutes.

Crowd is kind of sparse, leaving Lou Brewster to chime in with a quote from former Riverside Poly coach Mike Churchill - "Got to wait until cocktail hour is over before they show up."

Well, Grizzly and Highlander fans, its time to start chugging, as this one is about to get going.

Just got situated here at Citrus College, where it's perfect football weather - if you are from the Midwest. Its about 50 degrees with a light mist/fog and you can see your breath. I like seeing my breath, so its all good - though I wish I had remembered that Citrus had an open-air press box.

Anyway, according to esteemed colleague and boss Louis Brewster, there was a mini-trashtalk brouhaha at midfield between the two teams about 20 minutes ago. No punches or pushes - just good, old-fashioned woofing for a good old-fashioned Baseline League game.