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Portola Coach Peter Abe during a league game this season. (PHOTOS: Fernando M. Donado, For OC Sports Zone).
Portola High School football coach Peter Abe may not have envisioned that one of his teams would reach the CIF finals in the seventh year of the varsity program.
But it’s become a reality and Abe seems to be cherishing every moment as he prepares the Bulldogs (7-6) for Friday’s CIF Division 11 final vs. El Rancho at Portola.
“It’s going to be another tough week,” Abe said Monday at the CIF Media Luncheon at the Long Beach Marriott. “We’ve got to play well. I think the kids are up for it.”
The keys to the defeating El Rancho (9-4)?
“I feel like we say it every single week, but we’ve got to contain the quarterback, stop the run and control the ball on offense,” Abe said.
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Portola, the No. 16 seed in the division, has taken an unusual path to reach the finals. The Bulldogs lost their first five non-league games, then finished strong with a second place showing behind league champion Pacifica.
“We try to only focus on one game at a time and what we need to do better, what we’re doing well and I think every week, even though the record wasn’t what we wanted, we’ve seen the improvements we knew we needed to make in order to compete in league because the goal was always to compete in league to win a league title, get in the playoffs and then make a run,” Abe said.
“But we knew as much as you want to be 5-0 going into league, that wasn’t the goal, the goal was to be the best team we could possibly be in week one of league and I think we did that.”
The perseverance, grit and discipline this year’s team has shown stands out, Abe said.
“They’re staying motivated around each other, it could have been easy to tank it after the first three or four losses and everybody get all (upset) and fighting and all that stuff,” he said. “They chose a different way.”
Portola has geared its success on offense around running backs junior Timmy Grettenberg, who has scored 10 touchdowns and senior Diego Reyna, who picked up the slack offensively last week with Grettenberg not at 100 percent.
“We’ve had running back since the school opened,” he said. “We’re very proud that a guy like Diego Reyna and Timmy Grettenberg can step into that role and carry the load for us. It’s definitely eased up and opened up our passing game a whole lot more.”
Senior quarterback Nash Luper has improved every week and stepped up in the playoffs with two touchdown passes in last week’s semifinal victory over Baldwin Park. He’s thrown for more than 1,000 yards this season.
The defense is anchored by senior defensive lineman Adam Nofal, who has broken the single season sack record for Portola and linebacker Maxwell Mapstone, who has more than 100 tackles. The defense has allowed only about 200 points this year.
“You got Nofal in that first level and Mapstone in that second level, and about five dudes in that third level so we’re playing some pretty solid defense right now, so they’re pretty fired up about it,” Abe said.
Portola also has a very reliable placekicker. Ishaan Kedia kicked field goals of 41, 21 and 32 yards in last week’s semifinal win over Baldwin Park.
The reaction around the campus and the Portola community, which continues to grow in numbers with new construction, has been astounding Abe said.
“Everybody is fired up, and not just because it’s the CIF finals, but they were there in the beginning,” Abe said. “They were the ones patting you on the back and saying ‘it’s going to be ok,’ and ‘how can we help.’ And then to watch and witness the growth in these kids, not just from the freshmen year to end of the season, it’s been pretty special so we’re very fortunate to have the support that we have in our community and our staff and our administration.”
El Rancho, at at-large entry from the Del Rio League, is the third-seeded team in the playoffs and is out to bring the fourth title home for the program. El Rancho advanced to the final with a 28-21 victory over El Segundo in the semifinal.
The Dons are led by quarterback Ryan Dominguez, who has thrown for 1,906 yards and 21 touchdowns. The top receiver is wide receiver Andrew Guerrero. The defense is led by Javier Hernandez, who has more than 110 tackles and six sacks.
“They’re good, it’s going to take another great game for us, it’s got to be a team win,” Abe said. “They are kind of the epitome of ‘just play together.’ It’s hard to beat a team that believes that much in each other so we’ve got to go out and show the pride in our own program and what we can do.
“It’s not going to take anything super fancy, it’s just going to take making fewer mistakes and playing four quarters.”
Entering the game Abe has also remembered the impact that former Irvine High coaching legend Terry Henigan, who died on Dec. 20, 2023, had on him when he played at Irvine. Henigan also influenced Abe as a coach.
“I was thinking about him this past weekend and how proud I think he would be in not only what we’re doing right now but the manner in which we got it done, having started football in 2018 and so quickly, even with the pandemic, to be right where we want to be, very proud of where we’re at,” Abe said.
Kick-off time, Abe believes he will be ready for his biggest game as a coach.
“There are butterflies every game, it always comes, then kickoff happens and I tend to calm down,” he said.
–Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
