Beckman captain Makhi Czaykowski (center) and teammates Julian Rosa (2) and Tomo Bermejo (14) react as the Patriots deficit becomes unsurmountable in the fourth quarter. (PHOTOS: Fernando M. Donado, For OC Sports Zone).
Beckman’ s football team stayed close for a half, but El Cerrito ran away with the game in the second half to capture a 35-12 victory over the Patriots in the CIF State Division 4-A championship Saturday night at Buena Park.
El Cerrito (12-3) led 14-6 at halftime but dominated the second half outscoring Beckman 21-6 and snapping the Patriots’ 11-game winning streak, the longest in the county. Beckman (12-4) was trying to add a state title to its collection after winning the CIF Southern Section Division 8 title two weeks ago.
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A large contingent of Beckman fans showed up to cheer on the Patriots and the Beckman marching band performed at halftime.
“I thought we played a really, really good team who executed really well and made a bunch of plays,” said Beckman Coach Marcello Giuliano. “They’re historically a good program and they came out and played really well tonight. Sometimes you run into a really good team.”
El Cerrito (13-2) had a dynamic passing game, led by sophomore quarterback Dejuan Compton Jr. who led the Gauchos to their first state title, passing for 275 yards and four touchdowns, three to Gary Youngblood. It was El Cerritos’s 12th win in a row, including one forfeit victory.
Beckman’s Colin Singh had the only interception late in the first half which prevented El Cerrito from scoring again.
“Hard work really does pay off,” said El Cerrito Coach Tim Johnson. “It’s a long ride and the waters were rough, but as time went on through the season, we found our niche, we stuck together, we believed in one another, they followed the coach’s direction …. it’s beautiful. I love this team, I love my school, I love my community. I’m proud in everyone who had a hand in this, from the players to the staff, to the community, to the admin, our principal, she’s been such a big supporter.
“Tonight was one of those magical passing games. I got to give credit to my OC (offensive coordinator), he kept his foot on the gas, our quarterback, a sophomore, played his best game of his career and my seniors stepped up big.”
Beckman was led by running back Makhi Czaykowski, who scored two touchdowns and rushed for 72 yards on 11 carries. He had a 6-yard TD run in the first quarter but Beckman missed the point after and trailed 7-6.
He also scored on a 3-yard TD run with 8:01 left in the third quarter which cut El Cerrito’s lead to 14-12. But El Cerrito countered with 21 unanswered points, sealing the win on a 26-yard TD run by Joeseph Broussard with 1:49 remaining in the game.
Czaykowski gave it all he could despite an undisclosed leg injury and laid in the end zone momentarily after scoring his second touchdown before gettng up and returing.
“He’s not at full strength, he played through, at this time of the year no one is at full strength but he really battled, we had a lot of guys who really battled, I’m super proud of them,” Giuliano said.
One of those was quarterback Noah Nam, who tried to keep Beckman close in the second half. He completed 22 of 39 passes for 232 yards with one interception in the game. Sawyer Nickelson hauled in five catches for 94 yards for Beckman.
“We knew it was going to be a tough game going in and I’m just proud of my team for leaving it all on the field and giving 100 percent every play,” Nam said. “I couldn’t be more proud of the team, we didn’t have very high expectations from people around us and we didn’t listen to what people had to say and just trusted the people in the weight room and on the field every single day.”
The plan was clear in the second half, Nam said.
“We knew we had to establish the run game and to open up the pass game as well, I think we did a good job of that,” he said. “I think we needed to stay consistent with that throughout the game.”
Nam and the Patriots could still be proud of taking home the first CIF title for the program.
“That will definitely take the bitter taste out of the mouth but I wish we had one more,” Nam said.
All the Beckman coaches praised the players in a post-game meeting on the field.
“Every week I’ve said hopefully after it’s over I can sit and reflect, I’m just incredibly proud of the team, bottom line,” he said. “From where we were early in the season to now, and just an incredible amount of fun to be with these guys every day.
“I love this team, I’m proud of how we competed to the end and that will be the thing that we remember is just the competitive toughness and resilience this group had, a joy to coach.”
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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