By Tim Peterson
(Long Beach) – Noah Penunuri was stopped a half-yard short of the goal line on the last play of the game and Rio Hondo Prep fell to Vanden 42-41 in overtime Saturday night in the Division 3-A State Final at Veterans Stadium at Long Beach City College.
It was one of the few times Penunuri was stopped all night. After Vanden went up 42-35 in overtime on an eight-yard touchdown pass from Kalani Mcleod to KJ Davis the Kares answered in five plays with Penunuri scoring from two yards out to make it 42-41. Rio Hondo Prep head coach Mark Carson then decided to roll the dice and go for the win but Penunuri’s run to the left side was stopped just short and the Vanden celebration began.
Penunuri ran for 223 yards and five touchdowns and was the workhorse all night for the Kares. The game was tied at 21 at the half but Rio Hondo Prep gained some momentum to open the third quarter by recovering an onside kick at the Vanden 49. The Kares took advantage when Penunuri scored on a one-yard run eight plays later to give Rio Hondo a 28-21 lead.
Vanden responded with an 87-yard drive that was capped by a 13-yard touchdown pass from Mcleod to Chris Clark to tie it at 28 with 2:35 left in the third quarter.
The Kares came right back on the next possession when Penunuri, who else? scored on a 14-yard run to make it 35-28 with 8:16 left in the fourth quarter.
But Vanden wouldn’t go away. Less than five minutes later Zack Tayeh capped a 73-yard march with a two-yard jaunt to tie it at 35 with 3:49 left.
The Kares had a chance to win it with eight seconds left but a 36-yard field goal was just wide left sending it into overtime where the Vikings prevailed.
The teams traded scores in the first half. Tayeh scored on a one-yard run to put Vanden up 6-0 after the extra point was missed. But Penunuri busted off a 62-yard touchdown run to make it 7-6 Rio Hondo.
Later in the first quarter Jaishon East caught a six-yard strike from Mcleod to make it 13-7 Vikings. The Kares answered with 14 straight points in the second quarter. Penunuri hit paydirt on a two-yard run and on the next series Caedan Holcomb rumbled in from a yard out to make it 21-13
Vanden got even just 16 seconds before the end of the first half on five-yard scramble by Mcleod. The Vikings then converted the two-point conversion on a Mcleod pass that was tipped into the hands of East to tie it at 21 heading into the break.
After a wild back and forth second half and overtime it all came down to a painful half-yard for the Kares.
For Vanden Mcleod threw for 329 yards and three touchdowns with Clark catching eight passes for 110 yards and a touchdown.
For Rio Hondo Prep Nate Curtis joined Penunuri in the devastating running attack with 146 yards on 15 carries. The Kares rushed for 381 yards and six touchdowns overall on the night but they fell just short of the win.
Vanden finished the season 13-2 after the State Championship victory while Rio Hondo Prep finished 13-2 overall as well and also has a CIF Division 7 championship under its belt.
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Sadly this site has been hijacked by one troll. I’m Outta here for awhile.
From T. Peterson: Yes, I understand what you’re saying but you probably won’t see him for awhile. He’s posted a couple more comments since then and they were deleted. Obviously he, or she, was trolling.
Moist and plump is the biggest idiot the MVS blogs has ever seen. Clearly he’s a loser and has nothing better to do than come here and annoy you guys.
Ignore him and he’ll simply go away.
A super athletic qb with gifted receiver was kryptonite for RHP defense , but there are supposed to be challenges on the road to state title . Rio was clearly one program that was
“playing up” in CIF/State Divisional hierarchy. I don’t know what to say about Mindless and Perturbed ……and truly no need for commentary.
@T. Peterson i never said i thought rio hondo would throw the ball. stop misquoting me and lying about what i said. what i said was that when you don’t even bother trying to throw and you let the other team complete literally everything that you are going to lose every time in 2024 football. again, literally zero defensive stops. embarrassing performance.
plus i was talking to the anonymous (aka coward) poster, not you. i have no idea who you are so how would i say hello?
again. i stand on business with what i say. can you say the same? or do you just going to keep lying about what i say and mis quoting me?
From T. Peterson: Lying? Misquoting? “what i said was that when you don’t even bother trying to throw and you let the other team complete literally everything that you are going to lose every time in 2024 football. again, literally zero defensive stops. embarrassing performance.” You just said it again. Your grammar is horrible but it looks like what you just said was when you don’t even bother trying to throw…stop right there. That’s your problem. Why would they try to throw? How many times do I have to say this? RIO HONDO PREP DOES NOT THROW THE BALL!!! Why would they try to in a State Championship game? Why is this so hard for you to comprehend? They rushed for almost 5,000 yards on the season and threw for less than 1,000. So they should suddenly try to throw the ball in a State Final? What are you talking about? Embarrassing? They won a CIF title last year in Division 9 and another one in Division 7 this past year. I’m not lying or misquoting you. I’m educating you on Rio Hondo Prep football because you’re clearly lost on this. By the way why are you so miserable and bitter in all of your posts? A High School football coach cut you or something? Obviously you hate the site so why are you reading it every day? You may try to stand on business with what you say but what you say is wrong.
name one thing i said that was false. i was there you weren’t i watched the game you didn’t. the fact is when you don’t even attempt the forward pass and the other team completes everything they throw, that’s how you lose while getting literally zero defensive stops in the process.
these are the facts and they are not disputed.
From T. Peterson: You were there? You should of came down on the field and said what’s up? I was down on the RHP sideline the whole time. You could have ripped me in person instead of on the comments. Haha! What great game though. Instant classic! Vanden is no joke though. Their receiver #5 KJ Davis is legit. Dude can play. Not sure why you thought RHP would throw the ball. They haven’t done that all year. Why would they now? News flash: Running the ball is their MO.
Yea idiots come all shapes and sizes apparently. Learn the game before u make dumb comments.
woke up this morning, looked out the window, and saw another vanden receiver running wide open.
how about you realize it’s 2024 and realize the forward pass is part of football, embarrassing loss by a once decent program. heads need to roll over this choke job.
Edison of Huntington Beach Needed to intercept a pass and connect on a 54-yard TD strike to beat Fresno Central, all within the last minute of play. Sometimes the football Gods smile on you (Edison), and sometimes they don’t (RHP). What a sport, and what a shame the high school version of it is over for the year.