HUNTINGTON BEACH, Calif. -- Jack Sears couldn’t let his final drive as a Triton end with a pick-six to cost his team a spot in the state championship.
“I couldn’t believe it,” he said.
But instead of pout, he did something about it.
Down by four with under five minutes left in regulation in the Division 1-A CIF State Region Final at Huntington Beach High School on Saturday night, the senior quarterback marched San Clemente 70 yards downfield, capped off with a 1-yard touchdown run by Brandon Reaves to beat Edison 39-35.
The Tritons advanced to play Del Oro next Saturday in Sacramento for the Division 1-A state title.
They nearly didn’t, as Sears threw a costly interception with San Clemente holding a 32-28 lead late in the fourth. On first-and-goal inside 10-yard line, Sears’ end-zone pass was telegraphed by Edison’s E.J. Ginnis, who returned it all the way back — 100 yards — for a touchdown that gave the Chargers the lead.
“I made an error throwing that pick-six,” Sears said. “These guys didn’t quit on me. I couldn’t quit on them.”
Sears indeed engineered a game-winning drive to perfection. He hit his tight end Keith Jones for several completions, but the key play was a 15-yard pass to Isaac Rex on a third down play just short of the goal line. It allowed Reaves to sneak in for the game-winning score on the next play.
“We live for these moments,” Sears said. “We live for the end of the game. When we have the ball, we know we can do something with it.”
Edison took a 21-17 lead into halftime and held it for much of the second half, until San Clemente recorded consecutive touchdowns early in the fourth quarter. After recovering a fumble by Edison quarterback Griffin O’Connor near midfield, San Clemente took the lead when Sears found Rex for a five-yard touchdown in the back of the end zone.
The defense then forced a three-and-out, and Sears quickly led his team down the field again and found Jones for a 7-yard score to give San Clemente a 32-21 advantage with 6:22 to play.
Edison, though, regained the lead with two big plays: an 80-yard catch and run by wide receiver Shaun Colamonico and then the Ginnis interception return.
“It was a great game between two solid programs,” San Clemente head coach Jaime Ortiz said. “It came down to the wire. Very well played on both sides.”
Running back back Austin Whitsett was the star early in the game. Two early touchdowns by Whitsett paced San Clemente in the first quarter. He scored on the Tritons' opening drive on a 36-yard touchdown reception.
Then, after San Clemente answered with a score eight-yard by Colamonico to cap off an 80-yard drive, Whitsett took the ensuing kickoff back 96 yards to give Edison the lead right back.
Edison, though, had a strong second quarter after falling behind 17-7 at one point. O'Connor used his legs for a lengthy first down run into San Clemente territory and then used his arm on the next play to deliver a 38-yard touchdown pass to David Atencio to pull the Chargers within three.
Then after forcing a three-and-out, Edison took advantage of great field position to march down the field. O'Connor's 2-yard quarterback keeper gave the Chargers their first lead at 21-17, which they carried into halftime.
It wouldn’t be enough to pull off a trip to Sacramento, and it also meant this was the last game of Edison head coach Dave White’s career. White, who has coached the team for 31 years, has said he would retire at the season’s end. As the teams converged near midfield for the postgame ceremony, White received a nice hand from the San Clemente players and coaching staff for his lengthy tenure.
But this night was all about Sears, the senior USC commit who will have one more game in a Triton uniform.
“You’re a hero if you make the play. You’re a scapegoat if you don’t,” he said.
In a span of minutes, he went from one to the other, and padded his resume before he heads up the road to USC.
“We’re selfish,” he said. “We wanted one more week the whole time.”
Said Garcia, his coach: “What the hell, let’s go. One more.”
