Diamond Ranch quarterback Gus Viramontes will make a second consecutive CIF Finals appearance next week.
By Josh Ouellette
(Covina)- Diamond Ranch beat South Hills 31-27 Friday night at Covina District Field to advance to its second straight CIF Final.
The game started with the Huskies taking a 14 point lead in the first quarter. Jacob Shirley started the scoring on the Huskies first drive with a 13-yard pass to Andrew Roddy. The next score came when Geoffery Vaughns blasted up the middle for four yards then carried the Panther defense on his shoulders the final five for the 9-yard touchdown run.
Diamond Ranch responded later when head coach Roddy Layton sent Jeff Stamps into the game and the kicker used the boot God gifted him with a 47-yard drive through the uprights to put the Panthers on the board.
South Hills went three and out, giving the ball back to the Panthers on the Dawgs 48.
The Huskie’s Ronnie Tennell sacked DR quarterback Gus Viramontes, but was flagged for a horse collar on the play setting up the Panthers at the 39-yard line looking in. On the next play Viramontes hit Brandon Taylor on a screen pass.
Taking the ball at the line of scrimmage, Taylor weaved and dodged his way to paydirt, making the score 14-10.
South Hills was forced to punt on its next possession and the the snap was over punter Austin Daugherty’s head. Going back for the ball, Daugherty decided to kick it off the ground through the back of the end zone taking the safety. Not only did this give D-Ranch two points, but also gave the Panthers the ball back in good field position.
Trailing 14-12, with the ball on its own 47, Diamond Ranch mounted a drive that was capped by a 19-yard back shoulder lob rom Viramontes to Taylor. After a failed two point conversion, the score at the half was 18-14.
Both teams exchanged punts to open the third, before the Panthers drove 51-yards and finished with Viramontes scrambling 16-yards before diving into the end zone. The point after was blocked.
South Hills was not about to rollover. On the first play of the ensuing drive Shirley hit Dakota Behr on an 88-yard touchdown off play-action. After a successful point after, the Huskies cut the lead to three, at 24-21.
Diamond Ranch punted after a drive stalled at its own 45. Jordan Gutierez fielded the ball at the 10 yard line and busted through the coverage racing 70-yards to the Panthers 20.
The Huskies were quickly forced to attempt a field goal. Daugherty made a 37-yard field goal, but D-Ranch was called for encroachment before the snap. This negated the field goal and gave South Hills a fourth and one.
Deciding to go for it, Tennell dove 3-yards for the first down. Two plays later Vaughn followed his line and Shirley for the touchdown.
The Huskies began to celebrate, but a late flag was thrown from the sideline. The call was a personal foul-facemask on a South Hills lineman.
“In all my years of coaching I’ve never seen an offensive facemask before,” said South Hills head coach Steve Bogan.
This pushed the ball back to the 17 and after two unsuccessful runs South Hills lined up to try another field goal. The kick was tipped and fell about two yards short from the crossbar.
The Panthers took over and made their final drive. Moving to the South Hills 35, Viramontes went to Ryan Gibson. The ball looked like it was picked off by South Hills’ Vincent Hernandez, but Gibson snatched it out of his hands mid-air and landed on the two. Chase Price’s third carry, on the set of downs, pushed through to make it 31-21 following Stamps P.A.T.
Shirley marched his team down field for the last time of his career, finding Vaughns from 17-yards for the score, but the Panthers were killed the clock and advanced back to the finals where they will face the winner of Cal and Charter Oak.
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