Crean Lutheran’s Caleb Bey rushes into the end zone for a TD Friday night. (Photos courtesy Crean Lutheran Shutterbugs, John Luciano, Ted Rigoni, Howard Lyon and Samantha Burgett).
BY JAKE RHODES
For OC Sports Zone
In the CIF playoffs, momentum is critical. Not just when a team has it, but even more so when they lose it. In playoff football, where there is no tomorrow, if a team loses momentum the season can end abruptly.
That’s what happened at Saints Stadium Friday night, as Crean Lutheran’s 10-game winning streak was snapped in a 34-17 loss to Leuzinger in the first round of CIF Division 2 football playoffs at home.
Crean Lutheran (10-1 overall) won the Epsilon League title with a perfect 5-0 mark and had high hopes for the playoffs going in against a tough Leuzinger team.
To see the slide show, click on the first photo:
Despite the disappointing finish to a historic season, Crean Lutheran Coach Rick Curtis said he was proud of what his program had accomplished this season.
“This was the first large school league championship we’ve had as a school and first time we’ve gone 10-0,” said Curtis. “You got to look at all the positive things that we had …. These kids are champions, and that’s what we look back on.”
After being pinned down at their own 10-yard line late in the second quarter in a game the Saints trailed 6-3, Crean Lutheran’s offense finally hit their traditional home run play in one shot.
Junior quarterback Caden Jones threw a quick bubble screen to junior wide receiver Ty Johnson. With some good blocks from his fellow receivers, Johnson was able to break away down the sideline for a 90-yard TD, which put the Saints up 10-6.
After the Crean Lutheran defense forced a punt, the Saints scored again, this time it took two plays to strike. First, Jones completed a 16-yard pass to senior wide receiver Bryce Coleman. Then, junior running back Caleb Bey burst right through the middle of the line, scoring from 20 yards out with 1:44 left in the first half.
Crean Lutheran was on a 17-0 run at that point in the game. However, the Saints would not score again.
On the ensuing kickoff, Leuzinger senior wide receiver Mason Miller returned the ball to the Saints 28 yard line, giving the Olympians a much needed spark of energy.
Forty-three seconds later, sophomore quarterback Russell Sekona took advantage of the great field position, when he found senior running back Journee Tonga for a 19-yard touchdown pass to bring the Olympians within four points going into halftime.
Curtis said he felt the big kickoff return by Miller changed the tide of this game.
“We gave up that long kickoff return, and it gave them a lot of momentum going into the second half, and that really hurt us,” said Curtis. “We thought we’d be up 17-6 going into halftime. That was really the turning point in the game.”
Curtis laid out the turning point perfectly. Counting Tonga’s TD, Leuzinger (9-1, 5-1) ended the game outscoring the Saints 28-0 over the final 25 minutes of the game.
Touchdown passes of 30 and 17 yards from Sekona to Miller and an interception by junior linebacker Braylin Spencer were the key highlights of a Leuzinger dominated second half.
Spencer’s interception was the first one thrown by Jones all season.
Jones finished 19 of 36 passing for 249 yards, one TD and one interception. 223 of those 249 yards came in the first half.
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