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Portola players and coaches celebrate after winning the regional bowl game Friday night. (PHOTOS: Mark Bausman, For OC Sports Zone).
WILMINGTON – The CIF Regional Division 6-AA Football Championship Bowl Game Friday night at Banning High resembled that of a heavyweight prize fight as Portola and King/Drew of Los Angeles slugged it out until the final play.
And when the dust settled the Bulldogs came away with a dramatic 35-34 overtime victory, propelling Portola (9-6) into the school’s first ever state championship game Saturday, Dec. 14 at Fullerton High School against Arcata (13-1) who defeated Winters 35-14 on Friday.
Portola will have a chance to add a state title to its memorable season after winning the CIF title last week.
To see the slide show, click on the first photo:
Bulldogs running back Timmy Grettenberg was sensational, rushing for 169 yards and four touchdowns to lead Portola, but Grettenberg had a lot of help along the way.
The Bulldogs got the ball first in the overtime session and Grettenberg carried the ball four consecutive times, scoring the go-ahead touchdown on a 5-yard TD run. Portola added the PAT and led 35-28.
The Golden Eagles scored five plays later on a 7-yard TD pass from quarterback Keenan Jackson to running back Jahmir Torres.
However, after a short delay, King/Drew chose to go for a two-point conversion. As the tension level rose in the stadium, junior defensive lineman Reggie Thorn tackled the speedy Torres short of the goal line to secure the victory for the Bulldogs.
“He’s (Torres) fast, elusive and runs hard and I usually don’t dive to make tackles, but I had to dive to make that tackle,” said Thorn, who was mobbed by his teammates following the play.
King/Drew Coach Joe Torres defended his decision to go for two points.
“We were having a hard time stopping their run and I thought it was an opportunity for us to go for the win,” said Torres. “I didn’t want to take the chance of a bad snap or a missed block. This is on me. I made the decision. The kids did everything they could and I’m really proud of them.”
Torres was a one-man wrecking crew for the Golden Eagles (11-4). He caught three touchdown passes and stripped the ball away from a Portola runner and raced 65 yards for another touchdown.
He also had a huge interception in the final minute of regulation and returned it 53 yards to the Bulldogs 17-yard line. On the final play of regulation, King/Drew attempted a potential game-winning 32-yard field goal, but it was blocked by Portola defender Kaden Orosz.
“It was the first kick I ever blocked,” said Orosz. “I noticed on the previous kicks they were blocking high, so I decided to go low, and I was able to break through and get a piece of the kick and block it. I guess if we didn’t block it, you’d be over there talking to those guys.”
After a wild first half, the score was tied 21-21 at halftime. In the third quarter neither team scored until Torres stripped the ball from Grettenberg on the final play of the quarter and returned it 65 yards for a touchdown, giving the Golden Eagles a 28-21 lead.
“Yeah, I took the ball out of his hands and took off,” said Torres.
Grettenberg acknowledged Torres’ play but quickly moved on.
“Our coaches are always telling us, don’t worry about what happened previously, it’s the next play that counts,” said Grettenberg.
On the Bulldogs final drive in regulation, Grettenberg carried the ball nine times for 44 yards and capped the drive with a 3-yard touchdown run, tying the score 28-28 with 2:09 to play. Grettenberg has rushed for 1,118 yards this season and teammate Diego Reyna has rushed for 1,000 yards.
King/Drew got on the scoreboard first and led 7-0 after Jackson tossed an 86-yard TD pass to Torres at the 1:55 mark of the opening quarter.
The teams combined to score five touchdowns in an offensive-surging second quarter.
On the first play of the quarter, Bulldogs quarterback Nash Luper tossed an 18-yard TD pass over the middle to Anthony Riccardi to tie the score at 7-7. The Golden Eagles regained the lead two plays later after Jackson completed a 78-yard TD pass to Jayden Mitchell, making it 14-7.
Portola responded with an 8-play, 63-yard scoring drive to tie the score at 14-14. Grettenberg capped the drive with a 12-yard TD run with 7:43 left in the half.
Six plays later, King/Drew retook the lead again as Jackson threw a 14-yard TD pass to Torres as the Golden Eagles upped its lead to 21-14. However, the Bulldogs countered with a five-play, 61-yard scoring drive. Grettenberg scored his second touchdown of the game on a 3-yard run and the game was tied at halftime at 21-21.
Jackson led the Golden Eagles in the first half as he threw for 333 yards and three touchdown passes. However, Jackson only completed two passes in the second half. Grettenberg and Reyna combined to rush for 122 yards and two touchdowns for Portola in the opening half. King/Drew outgained Portola 348-231 yards in the first half.
“This was always the goal even when we were 0-5; we never doubted ourselves,” said Portola Coach Peter Abe. “I told folks we were the most dangerous 0-5 team in Orange County. Every weekend we watched our game film and every Monday we came in, cleaned up our mistakes and continued to progress. We’ve been laser-focused this entire season. As a high school football player, there’s nothing like playing football in December.”
King/Drew played without its best defensive player and sack leader (20), linebacker Chinedu Onyeagoro (a SMU commit), who traveled home to Nigeria Friday morning to attend his grandmother’s funeral.
The Golden Eagles placed second in the Coliseum League and then won the Los Angeles City Section Division 1 championship – the first in school history – by defeating Palisades last week.
Portola won the CIF Division 11 football title last week, the first in school history, in its first trip to the finals after starting the season 0-5. The varsity program began in 2018 under Abe.
NOTES:
—Friday was the first meeting ever in football between the two teams. Both teams were attempting to reach the state finals for the first time in their school’s history.
—King/Drew coach Joe Torres started up the King Drew football program three years ago. The school has an enrollment of 1,500 students and does not have a football field.
The team’s home games are played at various schools in the LA area. The team practices at a Middle School in South Los Angeles. Coach Torres played linebacker at Pierce Junior College and Compton College. He also played a season at Indiana University and was on the practice squad of the Green Bay Packers and Carolina Panthers. Out of high school, he accepted a football scholarship to Auburn University but had to decommit due to family obligations.
—Coach Torres said it was the first time Onyeagoro had returned to Nigeria, where he was born, since he was 8 years old. “We’re going to miss him, but family comes first, he needs to be with his family,” said Torres.
