PHOTOS: Portola suffers heartbreaking loss to Arcata in CIF 6-AA State final game

Portola Coach Peter Abe accepts the CIF runner-up trophy Saturday night. (PHOTOS: Mark Bausman, For OC Sports Zone).

Portola High School’s football team celebrated its best season in school history with some memorable victories en route to its first CIF title and first Southern California regional championship.

The Bulldogs finally experienced adversity Saturday night, suffering a tough loss to Northern California champion Arcata 27-21 in overtime in the CIF 6-AA State Final at Fullerton High School.

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Portola, making its first trip in the state final, won the CIF Southern Regional last week with a 36-35 overtime victory over King Drew on the road. Saturday’s loss snapped a five-game winning streak for the Bulldogs, who were CIF Division 11 champions.

“We talked about controlling the ball, and fundamentally made a couple mistakes, missed a few tackles, had a turnover, you’re not going to ask for perfection necessarily, but these kind of games come down to one or two plays,” said Portola Coach Peter Abe. “As much as we wish we had them back, there is no comparison to the number of plays that were made this year to get us to week 16. Just super proud of these guys.

“Those guys were gassed, I love it, they were all leaving it out on the line, that’s exactly what we needed them to do.”

Portola (9-7) tried to win the game in regulation.

Portola’s reliable junior placekicker Ishaan Kedia, who has kicked field goals as far as 42 yards, came up a bit short on a 45-yard field goal on the final play of the fourth quarter.

“I think the timing was a little off, he needed three or four yards and even with the hesitation, almost knocked it through,” Abe said.

The game went into overtime, with each team getting a chance from the opponent’s 25-yard line.

Portola had first shot and drove the ball to the 15-yard line on a second down running play, but turned the ball over on a fumble. Portola was also assessed a dead ball penalty, giving Arcata possession at the 12.

Arcata’s junior quarterback Luke Lemke, who was elusive and managed to slip away from tackles all night, scampered to the 1-yard line and then scored on a 1-yard TD to lift the Tigers (14-1) to the title. No conversion was attempted.

Lemke led his team offensively, running for 95 yards on 14 carries and passing for 142 yards. Tony Buchanon was also solid, rushing for 92 yards on 24 carries.

“My hats off to them and him (Lemke), they made the plays when they needed it,” Abe said. “And our guys left it out on the field, there is nothing else you can ask for in week 16, playing with the Christmas lights on, that’s pretty special.”

Diego Reyna rushed for 122 yards on 17 carries and Timmy Grettenberg rushed for 91 yards on 25 carries to lead Portola. Junior receiver Malachi Moore hauled in two catches for 38 yards.

Grettenberg put the Bulldogs ahead early with a 7-yard TD early in the second quarter.

Arcata answered with the next 14 points and took a 14-7 lead at halftime on TD runs by Buchanon and Lemke.

But the Bulldogs came out fired up in the third quarter, tying the game 14-14 on Reyna’s 11-yard TD run.

In the fourth quarter, Arcata elected to go for a first down on a fourth and four from its own 43-yard line. But Portola’s Adam Nofal ended the drive with a big sack, giving the Bulldogs a shot to take the lead. Four plays later, Reyna bolted 22 yards for a score to put the Bulldogs ahead 21-14 with 5:16 remaining.

However, on their next possession Arcata tied the game 21-21 on Lemke’s 33-yard TD scamper with 2:22 left, setting up a thrilling ending.

Abe, the Portola coach, told his players after the game that while they were experiencing pain from the tough loss, they had a lot to be proud of.

“That’s life, you persevere, you push through adversity and sometimes life sticks it to you,” Abe said. “It’s something to learn from, but also, you don’t have these opportunities if you don’t persevere and have a little bit of grit and tenacity. The moral of the story is keep pushing, keep fighting and don’t quit and do everything you can to control the controllable.

“I’m just happy they played four quarters and they pushed themselves all the way through and I’m looking forward to getting back to work.”

Portola players took the loss hard, but senior quarterback Nash Luper, who completed 5 of 13 passes for 61 yards, said the Bulldogs had plenty to be proud of.

“There is gratitude, I’m so thankful He (Lord and Savior Jesus Christ) was able to allow me to even perform at this stage. It wasn’t the result I wanted, but at the end of the day, it’s OK, it’s a game and I fought as hard as I could,” said Luper.

Luper said he thought the Bulldogs were on their way to a win after Reyna’s late TD.

“That was really exciting, I really thought that was going to be it and we were going to win, but the other team came back and fought hard as well,” he said. “In a championship game like this, neither team is going to let the other one win without a fight.

“We had such an incredible season, this one will hurt and it will sting a lot but I will still be so happy our team made it this far, winning CIF and winning regionals is definitely a huge accomplishment for us and I think we’re all going to be very excited when we get our rings and look back and be very proud of our season.”

Portola’s defense made some big plays. Maxwell Mapstone had an interception and was in on other key stops. Joshua Wang had a big pass deflection that saved a TD and Nofal was a force, with a couple sacks and constant pressure.

“Adam Nofal is a dog, he plays with a lot of heart and a lot of emotion and he showed up big for us this season,” Luper said.

Portola’s band and cheerleaders and a solid contingent of Portola fans rooted the Bulldogs on.

—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com