Rodney Smith (L) and Maleik Villagranco celebrate Centennial’s victory over La Salle. Villagranco’s blocked field goal attempt sealed it for the Apaches
(Pasadena) – Chris Rabine’s 37 yard field goal attempt with two seconds left was blocked and fell harmlessly to the turf taking La Salle’s playoff dreams with it as Centennial erupted in celebration with a 12-10 upset victory in the first round of the CIF Northwest Division Playoffs Friday night at Kohorst Field.
The Lancers came into the game with a perfect record of 10-0 but the Del Rey League champs left falling two points short to the 3-7 and fourth place Pioneer League team.
“I really can’t say enough about my guys. We came a long way and fought through adversity. Nobody expected us to win this game. We were the last seed,” said Centennial Coach Russell Shaw. “Our record doesn’t indicate what kind of team we have.”
La Salle’s defense held Centennial in check through out the contest but the offense couldn’t muster a touchdown. The Lancers only score came on the defensive side of the ball.
La Salle made several costly mistakes that led to the defeat. The Lancers turned the ball over three times including a fumble of a Centennial punt with just under four minutes left in the game. The Apaches took over at the La Salle 22 after Israel Lacy attempted to catch the punt but fumbled it away giving Centennial a chance to ice it. But the Lancers held and got the ball back one more time at their own 14.
Quarterback Austin Wallis drove his team down the field to the Centennial 15 yard line. An illegal motion penalty pushed the Lancers back to the 20 setting up Rabine’s 37 yard field goal. Rabine had booted a 39 yarder just before halftime to cut the lead to two. But this time the Apache line crashed through and sophomore Maliek Villagranco got a hand up and knocked it down to secure the win.
Neither team was mistake free in the first half. Centennial had two turnovers including a big one in the first quarter. Marcus Tappan stepped in front of a Jeremy Gaskin pass and returned it 21 yards for a touchdown to give La Salle a 7-0 lead.
In the second quarter, Rabine, instead of punting it away took off on a fourth down deep in his own territory on an attempted fake. Rabine was stopped short at the 19. Four plays later Deobeye Lee bolted into the endzone from seven yards out to cut the lead to 7-6.
With just 24 seconds left in the quarter Shiquan Jackson caught a 19 yard pass from Johnny Bailey to give the Apaches the lead. The score was set up by a 66 yard run by Harold Johnson.
La Salle appeared to be content going into the half down by five but a 16 yard run by Lacy and a 16 yard pass from Wallis to Amir Evans, aided by a unsportsmanlike conduct penalty by Centennial led to a 39 yard field goal with no time left by Rabine to close out the half at 12-10.
The three points seemed to be the momentum Lancers needed to begin the second half but the offense couldn’t get moving. In the second half, La Salle punted and turned the ball over on its first two possessions.
Centennial wasn’t moving the ball either punting twice and twice being stopped on fourth down in Lancer territory.
Lee had 16 carries for 59 yards and a score and Ronald Reed had 16 carries for 70 yards for Centennial.
Wallis completed 15 of 25 for 123 yards for La Salle but threw two interceptions.
Centennial will now face El Segundo in the second round while La Salle makes plans for next year.
“I’m proud of my guys. They played hard and left everything on the field and that’s all I could ask for,” said La Salle Coach Russell Gordon. “It came down to a field goal and it got blocked.”
C 0 12 0 0 12
LS 7 3 0 0 10
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