When the Sacred Heart Prep and Rancho Bernardo High football teams square off Saturday night at 6 p.m. for the CIF-State Division III-A bowl title in San Diego it will be a battle of bulls who are very similar in nature.
SHP — which defeated McClymonds 56-20 last week to reach the CIF State D-III-A title game — runs the ball about 60 percent of the time. Then when the Gators see an opening it allow its star quarterback Mason Randall to burn the opposition over the top for a big play.
Rancho Bernardo — which beat Oak Hills 31-30 in a thriller to reach the title game — also has a balanced attack and uses its running game to set up big throws by quarterback Mark Salazar.
“We are very similar offensively,” said SHP coach Pete Lavorato. “We’re both pretty well balanced both run and pass. Quarterbacks are good with good receiving cores and good running backs.”
Both teams have the star quarterbacks, running backs and elite receivers to excel.
Randall has thrown for 2,646 yards, 26 touchdowns and only four interceptions this year while completing 67 percent of his passes.
The Gators have an elite running game behind the 1-2 combo of Lapitu Mahoni and Isoa Moimoi.
Mahoni has rushed for 1,652 yards and 29 touchdowns while Moimoi passed the 1,000-yard in last week’s CIF NorCAL D-III-A title game win over McClymonds.
Moimoi has 1,050 yards rushing and 15 touchdowns on the year.
When Randall passes he'll look for seniors Andrew Dashbach (55 catches, 1,119 yards, 13 touchdowns) and Nick O’Donnell (50 catches, 970 yards, nine TDs).
After giving up a season-high 55 points in a 76-55 non-league win over Carmel, the Gators have improved a great deal on defense.
With nine new starters on defense, Lavorato said it was just a matter of the new guys picking up the system.
“It’s like anything — like going to math class. For the first month you aren’t going to understand what the hell’s going on but once you get it and keep learning it you get better.”
The Gators come into the game riding a seven game winning streak including capturing the CCS Open Division III title and earning a share of the Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division title as well.
SHP (11-3) has won a CCS title in four of the last five seasons.
The offensive trio of Salazar, running back Milan Grace and receiver Devaughn Vele lead the Broncos.
Salazar has thrown for 2,063 yards, 19 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
Grice has rushed for 1,742 yards and 23 touchdowns while Vele is Salazar’s top target as the senior leads the team in catches (45), yards receiving (854) and touchdowns (nine) this year.
“They run an I-set and more of a power set,” Lavorato said. “Their tailback pretty much gets the ball all the time while we’re a split back (system).
“Where we have two backs plus another guy whose like our receiver/running back. Our team will have three running backs and their team only has one.”
Defensively the Broncos are led by defensive backs Anthony Barnum and Jeffrey Molino, both of whom have five interceptions on the year.
Rancho Bernardo (12-2), champions of the Palomar League of the San Diego Section, comes into the game riding an eight-game winning streak.
The Broncos won the SDS D-III title this year by beating Mt. Carmel 41-23.
With a win Saturday in San Diego the Gators will capture the program's first CIF State title.
Ryan Silapan can be reached at rsilapan@prep2prep.com follow him on Twitter @RyanSilapan
