CERRITOS COLLEGE — Even with a 438-160 advantage in yardage, it was one yard that made the difference in Lawndale’s 20-12 win over San Joaquin Memorial in Saturday’s CIF Division 2-A State Championship.
San Joaquin Memorial quarterback Alec Trujillo recovered his own fumble at the goal line and appeared to have reached the end zone with 16 seconds remaining, but he was ruled to have recovered the ball with his knee down shy of the plane, ending the play and turning the ball over on downs to the Cardinals, who needed to just take one knee to celebrate their first state championship in school history.
It wasn’t the lone call to go against the Panthers. The lone points of the third quarter came on a safety, a bad snap on a punt that was ruled to have gone out of the back of the end zone, despite replays showing that neither the ball or the punter’s foot had touched the end line.
“They blew that call,” said Memorial head coach Anthony Goston. “He didn’t step out.”
That put Lawndale (14-2) ahead 14-6, and when the Panthers found the end zone with 6:11 to go on Trujillo’s five-yard pass to Mac Dalena, they were forced to go for two. On the initial attempt, a trick play pass from Dalena to Trujillo tied the game, but a flag for an ineligible man downfield forced Memorial to attempt the conversion again, and Trujillo slipped as Naki Fahina was bearing down on him.
The Cardinals responded with a nine-play, 85-yard drive to seemingly put the game away, capped off by a 16-yard touchdown run by quarterback Jalon Daniels, but with kicker Kevin Guzman unavailable after fracturing his wrist on the first play of the game, Lawndale was forced to go for two, and Jordan Wilmore was stopped shy of the goal line.
That left the door open for San Joaquin Memorial (14-1), and Trujillo made the most of his final high school drive, leading his team downfield. A pass interference penalty took the Panthers across midfield, and with three completions to Leonard Glass, SJM was all the way down to the 8-yard line with 1:20 left. Trujillo ran for five yards on first down, but after two runs were stuffed, it left Memorial with one last chance. Jalen McMillan was forced out of bounds at the 1, but a pass interference flag gave the Panthers one last chance. Rashaad Sylvester knocked the ball loose from Trujillo, and though he recovered, his knee was down before he could reach the end zone.
That’s not say there weren’t a few calls that ruffled some feathers on Lawndale’s side. The Cardinals were flagged 13 times for penalties totaling 102 yards.
“I think the refs were just trying to keep it close,” said Lawndale head coach Travis Clark. “Without those calls, it’s a blowout. Let’s keep it real, there’s holding on every play in high school football, but they only got flagged for it once. We also had some quick clocks and I thought they got away with a few clock violations.”
With the crazy finish and officiating controversies, it would be easy to forget the excellence of USC-bound running back Jordan Wilmore, who led the Cardinals with 220 yards on 29 carries, even with holding penalties negating four other runs, including a 28-yard gain. He also ran for two touchdowns within the first six minutes.
“I don’t care what recruiting rankings say,” said Clark. “When he gets inside, he’s a 20-star.”
After a quick Memorial three-and-out, Wilmore went for 23 yards on the first play from scrimmage and finished the six-play drive with a 10-yard touchdown. The Panthers then made the mistake of diving for an onside kick that failed to go 10 yards, and Lawndale’s Jakai Johnson ended up recovering the fumble. Just over two minutes later, Wilmore scored from 15 yards out to give the Cardinals an early 12-0 lead.
After a Makell Esteen interception, it looked like the game was headed for a running clock, but the San Joaquin defense dug in. One of Will Jacobs’ 12 tackles forced a turnover on downs 18 seconds into the second quarter. Joshua Barbarin then intercepted a deep pass, but with a Lawndale three-and-out and a shanked punt, Memorial needed to go just 30 yards to get on the board. Trujillo’s one-yard run cut the lead to 12-6, but Fahina blocked the extra point.
No team would score again until the contested safety in the third quarter, but even with that safety, Memorial never went away. Lawndale drove down to the 7-yard line midway through the third quarter, but a Glass interception in the end zone kept the game within one possession.
“Our defense played unbelievable,” said Goston. “They played 47 snaps in the first half and we got a lot of stops when we needed them.”
Though the Cardinals certainly knew that it could have been a much easier win, controlling the game by running for 337 yards and holding Memorial to -2, and keeping possession for just over 33 minutes, it’s not like anyone wearing Lawndale red cared at all how it had happened. They had their state championship.
“We’ve got a bench and a ball,” said lineman Keyahn Pinkston. “That’s it.”
“Hopefully, this helps get us a practice field and a weight room,” Clark added, “When it rains, we don’t have a weight room.”
Trujillo’s final play will be remembered, but the San Jose State-bound quarterback still managed to complete 15 of 26 passes for 162 yards, even with constant pressure from the Lawndale pass rush and the absence of one of his top weapons.
McMillan only played sparingly after a freak injury suffered on Wednesday, when he ran into a pole during school. That meant Glass, the Panthers’ top running back, was also their lead receiver, with 97 yards on seven receptions, which kept him active as the Cardinal defense left the SJM rushing game without any options. McMillan had just two catches for 22 yards.
Trujillo certainly left an impression on the Cardinals, including cornerback Stanley Livingstone Jr., who he’ll be playing alongside at SJSU.
“His releases were great tonight,” said Livingstone. “Playing DB against him, he was very nifty, and he was able to get the ball out on multiple occasions.”
Primarily a defensive back, Livingstone also had two receptions for 29 yards, including a 19-yard catch-and-run on which he was able to use his hand to avoid going down.
Livingstone, Wilmore and Esteen, a highly-recruited junior, won’t be the only ones doing big things in college, according to Clark.
“These kids are special,” he said as he spoke glowingly of his team. “They’re going to be future CEOs. I watched a lot of videos on San Joaquin, which is a great high school, and every time you hear about them, they talk about academics. We’re a public school, but you check our GPAs, and all of our kids are 3.0 and above.”
