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Pacifica players, coaches and cheerleaders celebrate after Thursday’s win. (PHOTOS: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
Pacifica High School’s football team earned the inaugural Omicron League championship with a decisive 28-0 victory over Portola Thursday night in a meeting of two teams who entered the game undefeated in league.
Then the Mariners celebrated the outright championship on the field at Bolsa Grande with second-year head coach Kyle Murphy, who told the players how proud he was of their effort.
Pacifica (5-5, 5-0) enters the CIF playoffs as the league’s No. 1 team while Portola (4-6, 4-1) goes as the No. 2 entry.
It was the fourth shutout of the season in league play for Pacifica, which celebrated the first league title for the program since 2020 when the Mariners shared the Empire League title with Cypress. It’s the 25th league title for the program.
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“I’m just so proud of them, a lot of hard work,” said Murphy. “I took this job when it was finally time for me and I was ready. The parent support, the administration support, the faculty support has been amazing. Parents buying in, kids buying in. There’s a lot of confirmation in how hard we work.
“It feels really, really good. I’m really proud to be the head coach of this team and I love these guys a lot. It’s special, it’s awesome. They’ve been through a lot, it’s really big.”
Pacifica was 3-7 overall and 2-3 in the Empire League last year and this season had to forfeit two non-league victories because of an ineligible player, Murphy said.
But the end result turned out to be special.
“We got beat up a lot of times (last season),” Murphy said. “They never gave up, they kept working even when wins were tough to come by, that propelled us into the off-season and that’s why we’re able to be here now.”
Pacifica was led by senior running back Addison Adams who had touchdown runs of 1 and 6 yards in the first quarter to give the Mariners a 14-0 lead. Adams, who rushed for 20 yards, also had a 4-yard TD run in the fourth quarter to seal the win.
Under CIF rules, Adams sat out the first five games after transferring from Los Alamitos back to Pacifica.
“He’s been huge for us in league, he plays on defense, he’s a strong safety and he’s physical,” Murphy said. “He’s a great young man and a great football player.”
Adams was thrilled with the victory.
“I think the victory was well deserved, especially after all we’ve been through,” Adams said. “I know Portola was probably a great team but we’re just better, that’s my opinion. We’ve had six shutouts this season.”
It was the first time that Adams has scored three touchdowns in a varsity game.
Pacifica also got solid efforts from quarterback James Anema, who completed 6 of 12 passes for 106 yards and running back Ma’Kai Brown, who rushed for 54 yards on six carries and scored on a 35-yard touchdown run in the third quarter that put the Mariners ahead 28-0.
The score was set up by a long punt return by Armando Torres that gave Pacifica the ball on the Portola 35-yard line.
“We don’t have one tailback, we’ve got four really good tailbacks and they do a great job of supporting each other,” Murphy said. “It allows us to keep them fresh and Ma’Kai hit that extra gear and it’s fun to watch. Armando Torres plays safety for us, he plays receiver for us, he’s on punt returns and kick-off returns and he’s a great leader who plays extremely hard.”
Senior Noah Lewis, one of the key offensive players for the Mariners as a quarterback and running back, rushed for 39 yards on seven carries.
Portola was plagued by 65 yards penalties in the first half.
On Pacifica’s opening drive, the Bulldogs were called for a holding penalty which prolonged a Pacifica drive. Later in the drive, Ethan McLaughlin connected on a 35-yard field goal for Pacifica but Portola was called for a roughing the kicker penalty and the Mariners opted to keep the drive going, leading to Adams’ first score.
In the second quarter, Portola quarterback Nash Luper scored on a 14-yard TD run which would have cut Pacifica’s lead to 14-7. But the TD was negated by a holding penalty and another penalty backed the Bulldogs to the 40-yard line and they came up empty handed after a 50-yard field goal attempt fell short.
The Bulldogs executed better in the second half, but had a 28-yard touchdown run by Diego Reyna taken away on a penalty.
Running back Timmy Grettenberg led the Bulldogs with 65 yards on 13 carries. Reyna rushed for 51 yards on eight carries and Luper, the quarterback, passed for 45 yards.
Portola Coach Peter Abe met with his players and supporters after the game and will now try and get his team back on track for the CIF playoffs. Playoff pairings will be announced Sunday.
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
