PHOTOS: Portola claims outright PCL title in final game for Warriors’ Rick Gibson

Portola players Nova Kebeli (22) and Mateo Arias celebrate after Friday’s win. (Photo Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone)

Portola’s football team did it again and in dramatic fashion.

The Bulldogs held on for a 35-28 victory over Woodbridge Friday night at University to finish a perfect 5-0 atop the Pacific Coast League in only their second varsity season.

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Portola wins the league title outright and will be making its first appearance in the CIF playoffs at home next Friday. Portola is in CIF Division 14.

Portola (9-1 overall) had to hold on for the final seconds as Woodbridge moved the ball to the Bulldogs’ 15-yard line with no timeouts left but the pass fell incomplete and the game ended.

“It seems like every week in the Pacific Coast League it’s one of these types of games,” said Portola Coach Peter Abe. “Again, I’m proud to be on the positive end of it. But just like we said, on any given night, any team can steal one from another and I think it just comes down to one or two plays.

“I’m very happy for our guys to be able to finish 9-1. It’s a fantastic experience for those seniors and the all the work they put in. But we’re still building and we’re still young and I’m hoping the young guys are taking note.”

It most likely ended the coaching career of Woodbridge Coach Rick Gibson after 32 years. Gibson said the Warriors needed to win to have any chance at an at-large berth.

“It was a great high school football game,” said Gibson, who was honored after the game. “My hats off to Peter and his team. They battled and we were right there on the doorstep at the end. We just ran out of time. I loved the way our kids played and Portola is a pretty good football team and they’re going to go pretty far in the playoffs.”

Gibson said the loss eliminated the chances of the Warriors (3-7, 2-3) advancing to the CIF playoffs.

“El Dorado won and that was the only way we could go if they lost. I went in thinking we would have a shot to win and do some good things,” GIbson said. “But it is what it is. You can’t worry about what didn’t happen. You got to worry about what’s ahead.”

The Warriors looked like they might rally in the final seconds. They took over on their own 36-yard line with 1:19 left and no timeouts remaining.

Woodbridge advanced the ball to the Portola 28-yard line when the Bulldogs were called for pass interference. Then, quarterback Tate Smith connected with Jacob Dube on an 18-yard pass play that advanced the ball to the 10-yard line.

Woodbridge was backed up to the 15-yard line later in the drive. With one second left, Smith tried to connect with a receiver just short of the end zone, but the pass fell incomplete.

Portola was led by quarterback Brandon Yue who completed 9 of 16 passes for 153 yards. The biggest was a 30-yard TD pass to Kaveh Wojtowich with 4:23 left that put Portola ahead 35-28.

“I think it was a great game, probably the most fun game I’ve ever been in,” said Wojtowich, who had six catches for 134 yards and two touchdowns. “Woodbridge is a great team. They don’t get the credit their record shows.

“They put up a great fight, but I think we executed and did what we needed to do and in the end, we just made an extra play. But it was a great game, a lot of credit to them and Coach Gibson.”

Wojtowich will remember the final TD the most.

“I was waiting for it the whole game,” he said. “I was beating him off the line and he finally threw it and I tracked it. It was a tough one to track for sure but I ended up with the ball.”

Wojtowich also hauled in a 62-yard TD pass from Yue in the first quarter which gave the Bulldogs an early lead.

Max Tipple had an inspring effort for Woodbridge, rushing for 145 yards on 15 carries and three touchdowns. He had a 2-yard TD run in the third quarter to tie the score 21-21 and a 20-yard TD run with 2:43 remaining in the third to put the Warriors ahead 28-21.

Tipple also had a 16-yard TD run in the second quarter which tied the score 7-7.

Smith, the Woodbridge quarterback, passed for 96 yards and also had a 5-yard TD run.

Yue also connected with Joey Omar on a 15-yard TD pass and Juwang Jung on an 8-yard TD pass in the second quarter.

One day after Halloween, Portola went into its bag of tricks early in the fourth quarter when Nova Kebeli took the direct snap and passed the ball to Brandon Yue in the end zone for a 5-yard TD to tie the score 28-28.

Kebeli wound up with 60 yards rushing on 14 carries. Regis Baky rushed for 61 yards for 12 carries.

Fittingly, the final PCL game of the year went down to the wire and Portola was able to win the outright title. If the Bulldogs had lost, they would have shared the crown with Northwood, which defeated Irvine 27-15 to finish 4-1 in PCL play.

“We saw that if Northwood wins and we lose, we share it and we definitely didn’t want to share it,” Wojtowich said. “We wanted to get that outright title so that end of the game was huge. That was a fun game.”

Abe, after congratulating his players, made it a point to tell them about Gibson’s impact at Woodbridge.

“My hats off to Coach Gibson,” Abe said in an interview. “He always has his guys ready. That guy is a fierce competitor and I don’t think there’s been a year when he doesn’t have those guys ready to play. I’m very proud to have known him and very proud to have been able to watch from afar as a player and now as a head coach and to have him as a friend and a mentor…. It has definitely been a fantastic run for him.

“There are peaks and valleys in every football game and these guys continue to impress. I’m very proud of their efforts late in the game to not give up and not quit and orchestrate a fantastic drive there getting that last touchdown and then the defense pinned their ears back. We always talk about bending, but not breaking and they did not break. That shows the heart of a true champion and again, I couldn’t be more proud of those guys.”

RELATED: Rick Gibson reflects on his 32-year coaching career

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