A regular season rematch in last week’s Southern Section playoff opener might have been the highlight of a slow first round.
There were few surprises in playoff matchups that took place around the Inland Empire area, including San Bernardino and Riverside counties.
Defending division champions won easily – Pac-5’s Centennial-Corona, led by J.J. Taylor’s seven TDs, and Inland’s Redlands East Valley, which got a pair of punt return TDs from Ryan Nieman.
West Valley Division powerhouse Murrieta Valley did plenty of first round damage.
As expected, Heritage-Menifee, Rancho Verde-Moreno Valley, Citrus Hill-Perris, Cajon-San Bernardino, Moreno Valley, Serrano-Phelan, Palm Springs and Vista Murrieta each held up their “contenders” reputation in first round triumphs.
San Jacinto’s 28-20 win over defending Inland Division runner-up Riverside Poly might have been a surprising outcome.
Aquinas-San Bernardino might have sneaked up on perennial contender Mission Prep-San Luis Obispo in a 28-21 triumph.
But there was an intriguing rematch between Yucaipa and San Gorgonio-San Bernardino that loomed in an Inland Division showdown. Earlier this season, Yucaipa scored a 47-7 win over the Spartans during non-league play.
The rematch was for a berth in the Inland Division second round.
Yucaipa won, 20-14, but there were some questions.
Was Spartans’ QB Kaleb Hayes out of bounds on an apparent 63-yard TD run that would have cut into Yucaipa’s first-half lead? Hayes says he was in, but the side judge said he was out.
That call was clearly the difference in a close rematch.
“It should’ve been a touchdown,” said a tearful Hayes just moments after Yucaipa ran out the clock. He had burst down the sideline on an apparent 63-yard score, but was ruled out of bounds after 30 yards.
On second-and-two, Hayes’ play fake to Dezhon Williams was brilliant, clearing him on an apparent 63-yard TD run down the sideline. But he was ruled out of bounds after 30 yards.
Virtually the entire San G sideline erupted in protest.
Said Spartans’ coach Ron Gueringer: “I didn’t see it, but I heard a ton of guys saying he wasn’t out (of bounds).”
But Gueringer’s son had a good view of the play. “My son said he did (step out of bounds).”
That seemed to erase any doubt in the mind of San G’s sixth-year coach.
Yucaipa (8-3), which threw a barrage of hard-nosed defense against the Hayes-led Spartans, stiffened to allow a missed field goal attempt.
San Andreas League champion San Gorgonio’s offense, mainly Hayes, kept attacking.
Citrus Belt League’s fourth place team, Yucaipa, attacked back with its defense.
Yucaipa held off San G’s final quarter surge when Frank Lemos III stopped Hayes (116 yards passing, 139 yards rushing) on a second-and-27, then watched a pair of passes fall incomplete before Yucaipa (8-3) was able to run out the clock.
“The plan,” said T-Birds’ senior defensive lineman Raymond Arreola, “was to stay after (Hayes). We couldn’t let him make a play on us.”
While Hayes burst for a 65-yard TD in the third quarter, cutting Yucaipa’s 13-0 halftime lead to 13-7, the T-Birds countered with a defense that sacked Hayes seven times, including a third-and-seven hit by Cody Milner that forced a failed field goal attempt on that drive.
San G, backed mostly by Hayes, couldn’t stand the intense play of Yucaipa’s front seven – Arreola, Joseph Simmons, Kevin Guerrero, Milner, Johnny Turner and Matt Lee, among others. All had a part of the sacks on Hayes.
But it was a special teams play, Matthew Best’s blocked punt, that set up Yucaipa’s first TD – a four-yard run by Chris Hunniford, surrounded by a pair of Hector Romero field goals.
Yucaipa QB Nathan Martinez found Kevin Valenzuela on a 27-yard TD, lifting its lead to 20-7 after Hayes’ TD.
San G’s Ramean Duckett, who caught four passes (41 yards) and racked up 74 yards on a pair of kick returns and a 26-yard punt return, intercepted a Martinez pass early in the fourth quarter.
It led to a Williams TD (20-14) with 7:55 left.
As for Hayes’ efforts, consider he was charged with a 24-yard loss on a bad snap – which wasn’t counted as a sack, but a fumble recovery. There were two other lost yardage plays that didn’t go down as sacks.
Yucaipa chased Hayes, surrounded, harassed and confounded him, forcing scrambles out of pass plays nearly 10 times. The T-Birds’ secondary – Jerred Flowers, Asani Hampton and Joshua Torrance, among others – allowed no Hayes completions downfield, surrendering only a few bubble screens, seven to Anthony Holley for 65 yards.
“A lot of our guys had great games,” said Arreola, who manned the nose guard position and helped hold other Spartan running backs to seven total yards.
“It’s hard,” Arreola said, referring to Yucaipa’s 40-point win in September, “to beat a team twice in the same season.”
It nearly didn’t happen. San G’s defense rattled Martinez (10-of-23, 101 yards) and limited the ground attack to 127 yards on 31 rushes.
“Usually,” said Gueringer, “you don’t make up 40 points on a team like that in the same season.”
That questionable call on Hayes down the sideline, however, was at least answered. “When he first broke on that play,” said Gueringer, “I thought he was gone.”
Forcing a Yucaipa punt with 6:02 remaining, San G (7-4) had plenty of time to launch a drive from its 37. Hayes’11-yarder to Chris Gomez on a third-and-8 kept that drive moving.
But back-to-back penalties for holding (14 yards) and illegal motion (5 yards) forced San G into an eventual fourth-and-27 hole. Hayes’ deep pass downfield wasn’t even close.
“We missed a lot of open receivers,” said Gueringer.
Yucaipa, which has been coached by Justin Price since 2010, earned a second round shot at Inland Division No. 1 seed Heritage this week.
