MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - The West Catholic Athletic League has been the dominant force in the Central Coast Section all season, so it would not have come as much of a surprise to see the Open/Division 1 playoffs turn into a WCAL coronation. The Wilcox Chargers had other ideas.
Trailing by four points at halftime, the Chargers (8-3) exploded for 35 second-half points en route to a stunning 52-28 win over No. 2 Saint Francis in the first round of the CCS Open/Division 1 playoffs. Wilcox will take on No. 1 seed Serra (11-0), a 47-7 winner over Salinas, Friday night at San Jose City College. The winner will be the Open Division champion and the loser will take on the winner of the Division 1 semifinal between Los Gatos and St. Ignatius for the Division 1 crown.
Senior running back Elijah Walker exploded for five touchdowns, including a 97-yard kickoff return that tied the game at 28-28 and sent the Chargers on their way to the second-half barrage. Walker finished with 220 yards rushing and senior quarterback Tyson Bonilla added a pair of scores on the ground.
“We communicate," said Walker, when asked about the key to the running game success. "In this game, we weren’t talking in the first half. We started talking more in the second half and that’s how we came out with the win.”
Saint Francis took a 21-17 lead into halftime largely on the strength of a rushing attack led by senior running back Kingston Keenaaina, who accounted for three touchdowns, including two on long runs of 70-plus yards. It was his 76-yard touchdown run that the Lancers their final lead, 28-24 midway through the third period.
But Walker's kickoff return sparked a 28-0 run for the Chargers, who essentially put the game away on a 30-yard run by Walker that gave Wilcox a 45-28 lead with just under 10 minutes remaining in the game. Earlier in the third quarter, Walker gave the Chargers their first lead of the second half with a 13-yard touchdown run on fourth down.
“We started to believe ourselves a little bit more in the second half,” said Chargers head coach Paul Rosa. “We just needed to hang in there on defense.”
Heading into the CCS playoffs, the WCAL claimed the top 3 spots in the Prep2Prep CCS rankings and six of the top 10. The Lancers checked in at No. 2 following a second-place finish in the vaunted league. However, the top two teams in the PAL-Bay Division (Wilcox and Los Gatos) took down two of those contenders (Saint Francis and Archbishop Riordan), leaving the possibility of a Wilcox-Los Gatos rematch for the Division 1 crown.
