Oxnard Pacifica had loads of motivation heading into Saturday\u2019s CIF state 1-A bowl game. Having fallen to Sacramento Grant in the 2-AA state final last season, the Tritons were anxious to redeem themselves against Fresno Central East in one of the weekend\u2019s marquee matchups.<\/p>\n
The game showcased two high-octane offenses, but every spectacular play by the Tritons was answered as they were dealt their first defeat, 42-28, in the second of three games at Saddleback College.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve gotta win on third down and we weren\u2019t,\u201d Pacifica coach Mike Moon said. \u201cTheir offense is hard to stop. We thought we\u2019d be able to score with them and we couldn\u2019t. We wanted to go up-tempo and we weren\u2019t able to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Pacifica scored first, marching 91 yards in 12 plays, capped by Taylor Lee\u2019s 15-yard strike to Tyler Stewart with 3:21 left in the first quarter. The North region champions punted during their first three possessions and turned it over on downs on the fourth, but ultimately tied the game on a 25-yard touchdown pass from Jelani Dippel to Bayon Harris that finished an eight-play, 78-yard drive with 5:43 left in the second quarter.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Oxnard Pacifica quarterback Taylor Lee slings a pass to the flat in the first half of the CIF Division 1-A state championship game Saturday at Saddleback College.<\/p>\n
(Steve Galluzzo \/ For The Times)<\/p>\n
After forcing a punt, Central East moved 82 yards in 10 plays and took a 14-7 lead on Brandon Smith\u2019s two-yard run 1:05 before halftime.<\/p>\n
Pacifica received the second-half kickoff and drove 71 yards in seven plays, tying the game 14-14 on a one-yard rush by Isaiah Phelps and David Carranza\u2019s extra point.<\/p>\n
Central East moved deep into Pacifica territory on its ensuing drive before Phelps deflected the ball and PeeWee Wilson intercepted it at the Tritons\u2019 24. However, Pacifica (15-1) was forced to punt, and Central East regained the lead on Smith\u2019s four-yard run with 4:03 left in the third quarter and upped the margin to 28-14 on Dippel\u2019s state-leading 58th touchdown pass, a 34-yarder to Kevin Cooks.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew it was going to be a battle,\u201d Moon added. \u201cThey made plays when they needed to and we didn\u2019t. Simple as that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lee hit Alijah Royster in stride for a 74-yard gain to Central East\u2019s four-yard line, and Phelps powered across the goal line on the next play to cut the Tritons\u2019 deficit in half with 10:20 left in the game.<\/p>\n
However, the Bengals (14-1) recovered a fumble at the Pacifica 18 and took two plays to capitalize on Dippel\u2019s five-yard keeper.<\/p>\n
Royster\u2019s 12-yard touchdown reception made it 35-28 with 6:25 left, but Smith scampered 15 yards for his third touchdown to close the scoring with 3:21 left.<\/p>\n
Pacifica beat Palos Verdes 20-10 to capture the Southern Section Division 3 title Nov. 28 for its second CIF crown in a row under Moon. The Tritons defeated St. Bonaventure in the Division 4 final last year.<\/p>\n
Fresno Central East lost to Huntington Beach Edison in the state 1-A bowl last year at Saddleback.<\/p>\n
Lee completed 21 of 31 for 317 yards and two touchdowns but was intercepted twice and sacked three times. Phelps ran for 127 yards in 23 carries. Royster caught six passes for 114 yards and Stewart had seven catches for 93.<\/p>\n
Pacifica has played 32 games in the last two seasons and won two section and two regional crowns, just not the ultimate prize it covets.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a long two years to not have a state championship \u2026 but we\u2019ll try to get back next year,\u201d said Moon, who has scheduled nonleague games with Sierra Canyon and San Diego Lincoln next fall. \u201cThis is a super group of seniors and the younger players will grow from this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oxnard Pacifica had loads of motivation heading into Saturday\u2019s CIF state 1-A bowl game. Having fallen to Sacramento…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":94187,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[51772,32699,51773,51770,51777,51776,112,114,113,51771,51774,11482,12913,3238,2495,51775,45646,1539],"class_list":["post-94186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fresno","tag-alijah-royster","tag-bowl-game","tag-brandon-smith","tag-central-east","tag-cif-state","tag-final-last-year","tag-fresno","tag-fresno-headlines","tag-fresno-news","tag-isaiah-phelps","tag-jelani-dippel","tag-moon","tag-pacifica","tag-play","tag-saddleback-college","tag-taylor-lee","tag-tritons","tag-yard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=94186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/94186\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/94187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=94186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=94186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=94186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}