High School

Newbury Park football forges improbable CIF championship run fueled by naysayers

Newbury Park overcame a 14-point deficit to take down Murrieta Valley in the D2 final for the program's first CIF title since 1993.

Tarek Fattal

Newbury Park football coach Joe Smigiel raises the CIF championship plaque after beating Murrieta Valley 31-28 on Saturday, November 30, 2024.
Newbury Park football coach Joe Smigiel raises the CIF championship plaque after beating Murrieta Valley 31-28 on Saturday, November 30, 2024. / Tarek Fattal

MURRIETA, CALIFORNIA - Murrieta Valley running back Dorian Hoze was on the loose again. He was already approaching 200 yards rushing by the time he broke for another big gain that was sure to be a touchdown in the fourth quarter, but then Drew Cofield happened.

Cofield hunted Hoze down from behind to strip the ball and cause a fumble just before Hoze could cross the goal line. Instead of Murrieta Valley taking the lead with 11 minutes to play, the fumble resulted in a touchback to give Newbury Park the ball.

"I knew I had to make a play," Cofield said. "There was no way I was going to tackle him before he gets to the end zone, so I tried everything I can to punch that ball out. Thankfully, I was able to."

Brady Smigiel would connect with Shane Rosenthal for a 27-yard touchdown on the ensuing possession that would essentially put the game out of reach and eventually grant Newbury Park a 31-28 victory over top-seeded Murrieta Valley to lift the CIF Southern Section Division 2 title Saturday night.

Newbury Park lost in the Division 5 final last year, but avenged that defeat with an improbable postseason march in what many consider the toughest playoff division in the section. The crowning moment gives the program its first CIF title since 1993.

"I appreciate the media for underestimating us because of our size," Brady Smigiel said. "I appreciate you guys for the inspiration. I screenshot that stuff all the time."

Smigiel threw for 276 yards and three touchdowns on 14 of 20 passing. He also rushed for 50 yards, including a 20-yard touchdown run. He connected with Cofield on two touchdowns of 27 and 66 yards. Cofield was the Player of the Game with his two scores and monumental strip fumble in the final frame.

Rosenthal, California's all-time leader in receptions, finished with seven catches for 120 yards. Sophomore running back Tyler Stromsoe tallied 85 yards rushing on 18 attempts.

THE MOST IMPRESSIVE PART ...

Newbury Park's ability to run the ball on a bigger Murrieta Valley front line might've been the most impressive part of the Panthers' victory, especially after trailing 14-0 in the first quarter. Hoze scored two quick touchdowns, including a 69-yarder before finishing the game with 245 yards and four scores on 29 carries.

The chip on the Panthers' shoulder grew from questions about the team's size and physicality. Local pundits doubted if Newbury Park could handle the week-to-week gauntlet and physicality of Division 2. The notion that maybe Newbury Park played itself into a division too high after going 10-0 in the regular season began to make its rounds.

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Newbury Park QB Brady Smigiel (left) talks to his offensive line pre-snap in the CIF Southern Section Division 2 final against Murrieta Valley on Saturday, November 30, 2024. / Tarek Fattal

"I seriously never knew how good we were," Newbury Park Joe Smigiel said. "We didn't play a meaningful fourth quarter all year long."

Newbury Park answered all those questions throughout the month of November with three MONSTER road wins at San Clemente, Yorba Linda and at Murrieta Valley Saturday night.

"Our guys love it. It's the reason we won," Smigiel said of his offensive and defensive line.

The Newbury Park defense stuffed Stanford commit Bear Bachmeier on 4th down late in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.

LAST, BUT NOT LEAST ...

In an era of competitive equity, where computer rankings and math are used to create the playoff divisions based on the current year, we tend to see things that make us scratch our heads.

St. Pius X won Division 8 after going 1-9 in the regular season. St. Augustine won Division 3 in the San Diego Section after going 0-10 this fall. Rio Hondo Prep, with 71 boys in the entire school, knocked off Warren High - with an enrollment of 3,000-plus, in the Division 7 final.

In Newbury Park's case, the Panthers were lifted into Division 2 where Southern California high school football giants like Gardena Serra, Oaks Christian and Los Alamitos live. From the outside looking in, it looked like the Panthers, a ball club from Ventura County, were getting fed to the wolves in Division 2.

Little did we know, Newbury Park was the wolf the whole time.

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Published
Tarek Fattal, SBLive Sports
TAREK FATTAL

Tarek Fattal has been covering high school sports since 2015 in Southern California and primarily in Los Angeles, covering notable athletes such as Bronny James, Kayvon Thibodeaux and Alyssa Thompson. He was with the LA Daily News for eight years, which included being the beat reporter for the UCLA men's basketball team. Tarek can be seen on TV regularly on CBS/KCAL as a sports analyst with Jim Hill.

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