(Whittier, CA) The El Rancho Dons punched their ticket to the CIF Division 11 finals outlasting the San Gorgonio Spartans 28-21 in a hard-fought battle Friday night at Cal High School needing every inch of their final drive of the night to get the win.
El Rancho head coach Adrian Medrano put the ball in the hands of his two workhorses on the night, Diego Diaz and Phoenix Navarro and his offensive line to drive 86 yards on nine plays with Diaz busting across the goal line from five yards away with the go ahead score and leaving just 2:19 left to play.
The Don defense took it from there forcing a fourth and long for the Spartans on their own 12 with :52 left to play.
San Gorgonio tried to get creative with backup quarterback Luke Garcia coming in motion and taking the pitch. Garcia fired the ball deep over the middle but Ray Madrid III picked off the pass at the Spartan 42 to seal the victory.
San Gorgonio struck first with 8:03 left to play in the opening period. Rashawn Holmes got loose on a 27-yard scamper to get the Spartans on the board. Hector Bustamante added the point after for the early 7-0 lead.
The Dons responded with a score of their own on a 41-yard strike from Ryan Dominguez to Madrid. The extra point was missed and El Rancho trailed 7-6
The Spartans extended their lead to 14-6 on a four-yard pass from Jacob Russell to Blake Slayton.
El Rancho answered again with an eight play, 60-yard scoring drive with Dominguez finding Giovani Montenegro over the middle from 22-yards away. Dominguez and Montenegro also connected on the 2-point conversion to tie the game at 14 early in the second quarter.
The Dons took their first lead of the night on a 54-yard bomb from Dominguez to Andrew Guerrero. The pass was tipped by the defender but Guerrero maintained his concentration and hauled in the pass and was gone to paydirt.
Not to be outdone on long passes, the Spartans tied the game on their next drive as Russell found a streaking Sal Ramirez who got behind the Don defenders. 55-yards and an extra point later the game was knotted at 21.
Neither team found much headway coming out of the locker room in the third quarter. El Rancho came close but a nice run from Navarro from the Spartan 21 was undone when Navarro coughed up the ball at the one. San Gorgonio pounced on the loose ball ending the Don scoring chance.
Midway through the final frame the Dons had another scoring opportunity driving the ball all the way down to the Spartan three.
Knowing that points were at a premium in the second half, coach Medrano sent on his field goal unit to try and get the lead.
Joshua Campos set up for a 20-yard attempt that he missed badly. With the miss, the Spartans got the ball at their own 20 to start their next drive.
The Don defense stiffened and forced a Spartan punt that was downed at the El Rancho 14.
From there it was the Navarro and Diaz show with Diaz getting the game winner and punch the Dons ticket to the finals.
The Dons will now face the Portola Bulldogs for the right to be crowned kings of CIF Division 11.
Santa Fe had their deep playoff run last year while ER languished at home with a 2-8 record, so it all evens out.
I don’t see the rationale here . Both teams were placed in the same playoff division and Santa Fe did get a home game . The team that beat them was immediately eliminated in next round. They got the exact same setup they would have in old format with league #2 gets home game with #3 lower seed.
That being said , I thought they had very good year solidifying last years turnaround. They were better this year . Playoffs are quirky . Matchups , injuries , travel, fate can trip you up .
The problematic situations are when league high achievers get put up in higher divisions , then see teams they whomped make runs when they are eliminated early.
They can do that all they want, bottom line they didn’t take care of business when they had the chance.
I’m not going to call ER “trash”, but I’ll bet that if the Dons win Friday, the guys on Santa Fe’s team are going to be thinking “we beat those guys.” No way are the Chiefs players NOT going to be thinking this way.
Do you feel better now? All the team could do was out physical its opponent and those who they had to face this post season, to have a fragile little man like yourself come on here and devalue the work of 16 year old boys is pathetic.
Using 80’s slang, you are sad Sad Boy. BTW learn to compose a sentence. Your lack of brain power is showing.
LP is right I hate to say
Physical?? With what, pillows ? Anything after D4 is just participation trophies . ER is trash. Here come all the rancho fans saying they not like us. SMH. Fools
Winning is Winning: Possibly guys like him may not have even played on a quality team . Forget the ring
Can you ladies take this somewhere else?
I’ve heard that Pioneer and San Gabriel will play at Cal high due to better parking. Give us a heads up on this please.
From T. Peterson: Nothing is confirmed yet. We are also still waiting for a confirmation on the location of the Rio Hondo Prep- Warren Final in Division 7.
@anonymous I 2nd that. LP can’t seem to stop talking about SG and these “lower” division teams. Sounds like a true hater IMO, probably someone who wishes they had a chance to win a ring but NEVER did. But it’s okay, places like this give guys like him something to do with themselves.
Can’t wait for Saturday night night !
@lp I’m glad SG lives in your head.
Nobody is going to change your mind . Believe what you want . If you think SG and Pioneer are great football teams , god bless you
The transfer narrative is a cop out , that weak programs use to explain away their deficiencies. Have a strong program. Attract , keep and develop your players as best as possible. . The good neighborhood programs are in D7-D11 give or take. .
I’m glad people get to be excited about their teams . Even if it’s schools with 1500-2000 students playing in weakest division with the worst 6% of qualifying teams .
@lp at what division does it start to be good to you? How do you define that? To me these teams r much better because most of them aren’t filled with transfers and recruiters. These teams are great and playing great football.
Who knows what Pioneer teams of 6-10 years ago would have done in new playoff system some of them much better than this squad in final of D14
It’s great that they are there . The coach you are slamming is the OC at present and has helped with this year’s success .
I just don’t like when CIF success in
Lowest division gets confused with being good .
Pico is in L.A. DELETED.
Congratulations (a huge congrats to long time head coach , who had to move to Loara as the OC a few years back after the Principal Oviedo let him go and hired her St.Paul co-alums to take over. They did no better; possibly not as good) to Head Coach Ramon Juarez who has been a very good coach every season at Pioneer
Last I checked only only high school in Pico.
What’s impressive about this ER team is the fact that they were 2-8 last year with the same group of players. Now they are in the finals. All this by being on the road for every game playing home games at Cal HS. Congrats ER . One more game to go. As they say, “the job’s not done.” Hats off to the players and coaches.
Congratulations to the ER Dons.
One more victory to go.
I’m mostly just interested in how my old school La Serna does, but it’s cool to see some old Whitmont League foes like El Rancho & Pioneer also make it to the CIF Finals.
Congratulations & good luck to
all the Dons & Titans out there!