Wide receiver Ashton Gouge of Los Alamitos scores a touchdown as Jordyn Fitzpatrick of Cathedral Catholic defends. (Photos courtesy Mark Bausman, For OC Sports Zone).
Los Alamitos hopes for its first state championship came to an end on Friday night at Veterans Stadium as the Griffins fell to Cathedral Catholic of San Diego 42-21 in a CIF South 1-AA Regional Bowl Game.
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The Dons (11-2), the San Diego Open Division CIF champions, advance to the state championship game next week at Saddleback College and will face Folsom, who defeated Archbishop Riordan of San Francisco on Friday. Los Alamitos, the CIF Division 2 champion, played in its first state bowl game game in its history on Friday.
Cathedral Catholic won six consecutive games and won its last state championship in 2021.
“Their up-tempo game threw us off in the first half; we hadn’t seen anything like that all season,” said Cathedral Catholic Coach Sean Doyle. “But our coaches settled the guys down and made adjustments. We have one more to go.”
The Dons scored four touchdowns in the second half to break open a tied game.
Quarterback Brady Palmer (Minnesota commit) threw three touchdown passes to Isaac Cook and running back Honor Faalave scored three TDs and rushed for 167 yards to lead Cathedral Catholic to its explosive second half. Palmer completed 13 passes for 281 yards.
With the game tied at halftime 14-14, the Dons scored on their first three possessions of the second half to break the game open. Palmer tossed touchdown passes of 56 and 79 yards to Isaac Cook within the first five minutes of the third quarter to give the Dons a 28-14 lead and momentum.
“They were playing back on me, and I knew I could get behind them,” said Cook, who caught eight passes for 185 yards and three TDs. “Mine and Brady’s communication really improved in the second half and that made a big difference.”
Los Alamitos (12-3) was on the verge of making it a one score game, but Lenny Ibarra was stopped short of the goal line on a fourth down run play late in the third quarter.
The Dons took over and went on a 14-play scoring drive, using over eight minutes, that ended with Faalave scoring on a 20-yard touchdown run with 6:25 left in the game. Each team added a late touchdown, but the Griffins comeback hopes faded. Cathedral Catholic will attempt to win its fourth state championship next week.
Despite the setback, Griffins’ Coach Ray Fenton was upbeat following the game.
“I think a lot of people picked us to go 5-5 this season; we exceeded expectations,” said Fenton, whose team won its first CIF title in 23 years with a win over San Clemente last Saturday. “Faalave is the number one junior running back in the state for a reason and Cook is impressive as well. I’m proud of every one of our kids. They worked so hard all season.”
Kamden Tillis had a huge game for Los Alamitos rushing for 200 yards, and a touchdown and Colin Creason completed 19 passes for 153 yards, threw a touchdown pass and ran for a TD.
“It’s been an amazing season,” said Tillis, who finished the season with 1,556 yards rushing 19 touchdowns. “It’s so sad that it ended and so sad for the seniors.”
“It was a magical season,” said Creason, a Delaware State commit and who finished the season with 2,445 passing yards. “Tonight, we beat ourselves.”
Los Alamitos, using an effective no-huddle offense, took the opening kickoff and quickly marched 75 yards in nine plays to take a 7-0 lead. Creason completed a 25-yard touchdown pass to Ashton Gogue, who caught the ball over the middle and raced into the end zone to cap the drive.
The Dons countered with a 48-yard scoring drive in seven plays. Faalave scored on a fourth-down 25-yard TD run to tie the score at 7-7.
The Griffins, behind the running of Tillis and Ibarra, methodically moved down field and upped its lead to 14-7, following Creason’s two-yard touchdown run with 2:18 left in the first quarter.
A combination of Los Alamitos penalties and the Dons defense stiffening cooled down the Griffins attack after the first quarter. Cathedral Catholic took advantage and Brady Palmer’s passing guided the Dons to a tying score, a one-yard touchdown run by Faalave, his second of the game. The Griffins had an opportunity to take a lead just before half, but a field goal attempt sailed wide.
Los Alamitos outgained the Dons 231-117 yards in the first half.
NOTES:
––After winning the Western League title, Cathedral Catholic defeated Mission Hills, and Carlsbad in the playoffs to capture the San Diego Section Open Division championship.
—Cathedral Catholic ran into a bit of a delay on the trip up north on Friday afternoon. The team left at 1 p.m. but shortly after their departure the team became stuck in traffic when the 5 Freeway was closed due to an incident.
“It took us over four hours to get here,” said Doyle, who has been the Dons head coach for 30 years and has been on staff for 40 years. “We got off the freeway, took a detour and then got back on the freeway but we didn’t get here until 5:30. It’s been a crazy day.”
—-Doyle said he believes that Friday’s game is the first contest ever between Cathedral Catholic and Los Alamitos.
—Cathedral Catholic college commits are: (Cade Smith/University of San Diego, Bronx Letuligasenoa/Davidson College, Chase Deniz/USC)
—-Los Alamitos college commits are: (Beckham Hofland/Boise State, Lenny Ibarra/West point, Jackson Renger/Cornell, Colin Creason and Braiden McKenna Delaware State). “That’s what happens when you get a national game on TV, the scouts are always watching and they signed Colin and Braiden after they had big games last week,” said Los Alamitos coach Ray Fenton.
—Last week for Los Alamitos’ game against San Clemente, Fenton said he had 250 sideline requests from Los Alamitos alums. This week, however, the CIF limited each team to only 20 sideline guests.
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