High School

Northern California high school football playoffs: Scores, recaps, updated brackets

St. Ignatius rallied for a thrilling 21-17 win over Valley Christian in the CIF Central Coast Section playoffs

Mitch Stephens, SBLive Sports

The first time the teams met on Oct. 13 it came down to a single point. 

On Friday, in the quarterfinals of the CIF-Central Coast Section Open Division/Division 1 football playoffs, it came down to one play. 

Soren Hummel, a poised 6-foot, 180-pound junior quarterback, calmly rolled right on third down and found Monroe Barnum all alone in the back of the end zone with 7.8 seconds left to give host St. Ignatius a thrilling 21-17 victory over a very game Valley Christian squad. 

The Warriors (6-5), making their fifth 2.5-hour trip from the Southern tip of San Jose to San Francisco this season, had taken a 17-14 lead on a 27-yard field goal by Aaron Vander Veen with 4:25 left. 

Ekiah McLemore, who rushed for more than 100 yards and a touchdown, gashed a worn down St. Ignatius defense on the drive. But the Wildcats (7-5) held when it needed to and the Warriors had to settle for a field goal. 

Hummel calmly drove the Wildcats down field then fired a 20-yard strike to Pierce St. Geme putting the ball at the Valley Christian 5 with 47 seconds left. Two runs went no where and after his team took their last timeout, Hummel rolled right with utter ease, surveyed the end zone and found a wide open Barnum. 

Sorren Hummel made one clutch throw after another in St. Ignatius' 21-17 victory over Valley Christian on Friday.  / File photo: Paul Ghiglieri

It was another hard-fought and devastating loss for the Warriors, who lost 15-14 at St. Ignatius about a month earlier.  

The Warriors at time looked in control - and largely controlled the clock - taking a 7-0 lead on a 29-yard touchdown jaunt by Uchenna Eke with 1:39 left in the first. 

St. Ignatius came right back after Dash Crispen intercepted a pass at the Valley Christian 10 early in the second quarter. The Wildcats drove 90 yards capped by two long completions from Hummel and capped with a 4-yard touchdown run by Jarious Hogan, tying the game at 7-7 with 10:30 left in the second quarter. 

 A long sustained drive capped by a 1-yard run by McLemore gave the Warriors a 14-7 lead with 4:28 left in the third quarter. 

Like they did all night. St. Ignatius responded, with Hummel again rolling out and finding Mana'omia Tito with a 5-yard TD pass to tie the game at 14-14 on the first play of the fourth quarter. 

St. Ignatius now awaits the winner of Los Gatos versus Riordan in a semifinal of Division 1. The winner of that game will face the loser of the upper bracket Open Division with a D1 championship and regional playoff berth on the line.

Los Gatos 28, Riordan 14: After two straight elimination losses the last two years to West Catholic Athletic League teams, the host Wildcats (9-2) got the victory, breaking a 14-14 halftime time on touchdowns from Jaylen Thomas on a 33-yard reception from A.J. Minyard and a 9-yard TD run by Scott Garwood. Riordan finishes 7-4, its first winning season since 2015. 

Wilcox-Santa Clara 52, Saint Francis 28: The visiting and seventh-seeded Chargers and their vaunted split-back veer was unstoppable, especially in the second half, outscoring the second-seeded Lancers 35-7 after intermission. Elijah Walker was particularly unstoppable scoring five touchdowns, the biggest a 97-yard kickoff return to give Wilcox a 31-28 lead early in the second half. He'd score two more touchdowns down the stretch on runs of 25 and 57 yards while QB Tyson Bonilla added TD runs of 3 and 4 yards, to help offset a big night from the Lancers' Kingston Keanaaina who rushed for touchdowns of 71, 74 and 1 yard. Wilcox (8-3) now faces Saturday's winner between Salinas (7-3) and top seed Serra (10-0). The Lancers finished 7-4. 

North Coast Section

Open/Division 1

San Ramon Valley 38, Campolindo 31 (0T): When the host and heavily favored Wolves (10-1) jumped to a 21-0 lead early, this looked like a rout. Instead Campolindo rallied and actually took a 31-24 lead with 4:47 left on a Mack Fisher 66-yard interception return for touchdown. Campo (7-3-1), which fought back from a two-touchdown deficit last week to win 25-24 at Acalanes to get into the playoffs, had Luke Baker on the ropes a couple times, including a fourth-down sneak that barely got the yardage for a first down. 

Baker's arms and legs got the ball the the 1 and Marco Jones ran it home to tie the score at 31-31 with 1:18 left. 

A 48-yard completion got Campolindo in field goal range, but a 44-yard with 8.7 seconds left missed, forcing overtime. In OT, Matthew Garibaldi rushed home from 20 yards out to give SRV a 38-31 lead. The Wolves' defense then held on four downs to pull out the win. The teams had split NCS Division 2 championship games the previous two years. 

De La Salle 48, James Logan 20: Toa Faavae run for 67 yards for a score and completed a 56-yard TD pass to Robert Santiago and the top-seeded Spartans (9-2) were off an running. Faavae added a 10-yard run and Dominic Kelley contributed touchdown runs of 37 and 11 yards and Derrick Blanche contributed a 65-yard TD jaunt as the host Spartans moved into the Open finals and will face San Ramon Valley. Brayden Knight added a 40-yard touchdown pass to tight end Drew Cunningham. Jonathan Craft connected on a 13-yard pass to Jeremy Craft for Logan (6-5). 

Pittsburg 41, Amador Valley 14: The Pirates (11-0) broke open a tight game with two touchdowns in the third quarter to take a 27-0 lead into the fourth quarter. Junior receiver Makari Kenion had  touchdown receptions of 44 and 85 yards from Marley Alcantara, who also fired a 15 yarder to Bobby Shaw to put on the finishing touchdowns. Samu Iosia also recovered an onside kick and returned it 44 yards for a score and Japeth Tofaeono added a 60-yard scoop and score. The Pirates will host California-San Ramon in the Division 1 semifinals next week. The Pirates beat California 38-35 earlier in the season. 

California 31, Clayton Valley Charter 24: The host Grizzlies beat the Ugly Eagles for the second time this season thanks to a 9-yard touchdown run by Jayden Macedo with 1:33 left in the game. Earlier Macedo completed a 75-yard touchdown pass to Josh Calcagno. 

Sac-Joaquin Section

Division 1

Folsom 49, Cosumnes 7: The host and top-seeded Bulldogs (9-2) continued their playoff dominance, jumping to a 35-0 halftime lead. Quarterback Ryder Lyons continued his remarkable sophomore season starting the scoring with a 38-yard touchdown pass to Jameson Powell. He added a second TD pass to Powell of 46 yards to make it 14-0, and then added two more TD passes, another one to Powell. Chris Warrend added a 72-yard pick 6. 

Inderkum 50, Monterey Trail 21: The Tigers went on the road and scored the most impressive quarterfinal win in the round, as Ricky Cole, led a 22-0 run to close the game. Colege had a 14-yard touchdown run, a 43-yard TD completion to Zayden Maxwell and 18-yard touchdown run and finished things off with a 6-yard TD pass to Leandrew Jenkins. The Tigers (11-1) now travel to Folsom for a semifinal game. 

Central Catholic 34, Edison 20: Third-year starting quarterback Tyler Wentworth completed a 14-yard TD pass to Brooklyn Cheek and the Raiders (9-2) were on their way to victory. Wentworth added a 3-yard TD run and Joey Alcutt put things away with TD runs of 8, 10 and finally 21 yards to finally put away the Vikings who matched Central Catholic's first three touchdowns, but were held scoreless the final 20 minutes. 

Oak Ridge 45, Turlock 6: The Trojans put down the hammer after a slow start. They got a shot field goal by Alex Henslee in the first quarter than scored three unanswered touchdowns in the second on a Jason Womack 4-yard TD run, a 33-yard scoring pass from Joaquin Graves-Mercado to Kaleb Edwards and an Adrian Gallwitz 4-yard TD run. The Trojans will travel to Central Catholic next week.  

Central Section

Division I
Clovis North 34, Clovis West 0: Jackson Cinfel rushed 26 times for 161 yards and two touchdowns and McKay Madsen added 66 yards and three scores as the top-seeded Broncos (11-0) flexed its muscle in the impressive quarterfinal win at Veteran's Memorial Stadium. See story

Central-Fresno 36, Frontier 32: After second-seed Frontier (10-1) went ahead 32-29 with 1:14 remaining, seventh seed Central drove 65 yards in just three plays capped with an 18-yard touchdown pass from David Marquez (16 of 29, 334 yards, five touchdowns) with 11 seconds left. to Braylen Hall to win it.  Malakhi Statler threw for 231 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 75 yards for Frontier. See story

Clovis East 17, Sanger 14: Sanger fought back from a 17-0 deficit, but on a 4th-down play, rather than go for a game-tying field goal, Clovis East got the stop to pull out the victory. Izzy Robles, who earlier scored on two TD runs, was stopped just inside the 5. clovis East got touchdowns on a 25-yard run by Donyell Booker and a 59-yard pass from Tyus Miller to Tommy Nix. Ultimately a 32-yard field goal by Francisco Damas was the difference. Clovis East (9-2) moves into the semifinals against Clovis North. Sanger ended 10-2. Story 

Liberty-Bakersfield 33, Clovis 30: Mehki Delouth rushed for a 3-yard touchdown midway through the fourth quarter and the Liberty defense made it stand up in a terrific quarterfinal win. An interception by Daviyon Day thwarted a late drive. Cole O'Brien completed a TD pass to Jace Nixon to start a 26-7 lead for Liberty. Clovis fought back on a 10-yard TD by Roman Moreno, a TD pass from Deagan Rose and two 2-point conversions cut the lead to 26-23. Rose's 5-yard run gave Clovis its first lead 30-26 with 8:00 left, before Delouth's game-winning score. 

Northern Section

Division 1

Foothill 17, Red Bluff 14: Despite 133 yards rushing and a touchdown from Jose Chavez, Red Bluff came up short in a first-round Division 1 contest. Mickey Cohn (12 tackles and Raiden Gove (10 tackles) also had huge defensive games for Red Bluff (5-6), but it is Foothill that advances (6-5) and will face top-seed Chico in next week's semifinals. 

Shasta 17, Enterprise 12: Shakespeare Taylor and Jaden Welch had interceptions, Justin Polley threw for a touchdown and Owen Boesiger rushed for a TD as Shasta (8-3) moved into the semifinals with tough, defensive-minded home win over Enterprise (4-7). The Wolves now travel to second seed Pleasant Valley-Chico with a chance to advance to the finals. 

Check back throughout the weekend for scores, highlights, tweets and updated brackets

Published
Mitch Stephens, SBLive Sports
MITCH STEPHENS, SBLIVE SPORTS

Mitch Stephens is a senior editor at SBLive Sports for California, a state he's covered high school sports since 1984. He won multiple CNPA and CPSWA writing awards with the Contra Costa Times, San Francisco Chronicle and MaxPreps.com before joining the SBLive staff in 2022. He's covered the beat nationally since 2007, profiling such athletes as Derrick Henry, Paige Bueckers, Patrick Mahomes, Sabrina Ionescu, Jayson Tatum, Chiney Ogwumike, Jeremy Lin and Najee Harris as preps. You can reach him at mitch@scorebooklive.com.

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