Rancho not ready to reflect on its season yet
The seeds have held true to form as No. 3 seed Rancho Cucamonga has advanced to Saturday's CIF-SS Inland Division semifinals to face a second-seeded Vista Murrieta team looking to make a second consecutive appearance in the CIF championship game.
Championship aspirations: There is plenty of playoff experience in this game as Rancho Cucamonga is two years removed from a CIF-SS Central Division championship while Vista Murrieta reached the Inland Division title game last season only to lose a tight game to Southwestern League foe Chaparral.
Baseline League champ Rancho Cucamonga went undefeated en route to a 2008 CIF championship before losing to Los Osos in the semifinals last season. The Cougars graduated their quarterback, running back and most of their defense from last season but a young 2010 squad has been up to the challenge at every turn this season.
Grinding it out: Vista Murrieta doesn't have the eye-popping numbers of No. 1 seed Corona Centennial but the Broncos' style has proven effective. Similar to Rancho Cucamonga, Vista Murrieta prefers to grind out yards and run the clock by pounding the ball with 6-foot-3, 240-pound quarterback Derrick Brown and a sizable offensive line.
Brown, a senior, is Vista Murrieta's leading rusher with 865 yards and 16 touchdowns on 139 carries and has thrown for 1,465 yards with 16 touchdowns and six interceptions. Running back John Hardin is the Broncos second-leading rusher with 735 yards and 11 touchdowns on just 138 carries.
"They've got a big ole quarterback and he is a tough physical runner," Rancho Cucamonga head coach Nick Baiz said. "They play a smash-mouth style and they're good at what they do."
Similar styles: Rancho Cucamonga dual-threat quarterback Dimitri Morales has quickly developed into a gamebreaker but the Cougars, like their opponent tonight, prefer to run the ball behind an offensive line that averages over 300 pounds a member.
The 5-foot-11, 195-pound Sateki Finau has been the primary beneficiary of an imposing offensive line as the work horse running back has compiled 1,906 yards and 22 touchdowns on 280 carries.
"I think we matchup with them pretty well size-wise," Baiz said. "I'm just worried about their speed. They have a bunch of guys on defense who can flat out run to the ball."
Out of their league?: After the Baseline League collectively won one game its last two years in the Inland Division, a Rancho Cucamonga team that has won the outright league championship two of the last three years is proving the league has come a long way in the two years it was in the Central Division.
The Cougars have dominated the second half of each of their two playoff games, first in a 37-13 pasting of a Murrieta Valley team that finished third to Vista Murrieta in the Southwestern League and last week in a 51-36 win over the Big VIII League's second-place team, Corona Roosevelt.
"This is no time to reflect on the season," Baiz said. "We've played well in big games and mentally we think we can win this game. We've been a second-half team lately but I hope we can get going earlier this week."
Prediction: Vista Murrieta 27, Rancho Cucamonga 24
About Clay
Clay Fowler has been covering high school sports for six years in California and Texas. He was born in Dallas, attended the University of Texas and worked in Central Texas before joining the Daily Bulletin staff in 2006.
Email Clay here
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