Though his words were certainly not earth-shattering in their originality, an assistant coach for Segerstrom High School’s varsity football team probably said it best as he walked through the west gate of Titan Stadium and strode towards the team bus.
“You just can’t make that many turnovers in a high school playoff game and expect to win,” he said, matter-of-factly. “Not at any level, really.”
Just a few minutes earlier, San Marino head Coach Mike Hobbie seemed completely befuddled as he stood among a throng of blue-clad revelers in the stadium’s west end zone.
“I have no idea,” Hobbie said when asked how his Titans win the CIF Division 9 football game that had just been contested. “No idea,”
Perhaps Segerstrom’s anonymous coach provided the answer to San Marino’s 21-20 victory last Friday night over the visiting Falcons and truth be told, it doesn’t rally matter as San Marino heads to North Torrance this Friday and Segerstrom heads home until next summer.
It looked as though the Falcons would be the ones advancing as they marched down the field and scored on their first possession of the game as Iverson Fuiava collected a 23-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Angel Viera to make the score 7-0.
But that seemed to only aggravate the Titans as they scored the next 21 points to take a 21-7 halftime lead. Quarterback Kade Wentz tossed a 34-yard touchdown pass to Wheeler Smith and scored on a three-yard run of his own early in the second quarter. Senior tailback Beau Hobbie found paydirt later in the quarter on a six-yard run that, unbeknownst to all at the time, capped the scoring for the Titans.
And who would have guessed that the third successful extra point by San Marino kicker Jordan Evans would become the eventual game-winner?
But Wentz re-injured his shoulder on the final drive of the first half and never returned and Hobbie called on junior Connor Short to direct the squad for the remainder of the contest.
The Falcons succeeded in clipping their own wings in the second half, committing four turnovers on two interceptions and two lost fumbles. While San Marino was unable to capitalize on any of them, the Titans were at least able to burn precious time off the Titan Stadium clock.
Segerstrom drew to within seven points of the hosts late in the third period, when the versatile Paul Roa scored on a five yard run. The Falcons embarked on another steady drive midway through the fourth quarter and appeared ready to tie the contest when Fuiava powered into the end zone with 3:32 left in the game. But Segerstrom wanted to close the deal in regulation and attempted a two-point conversion which, given the Falcons’ second-half momentum, seemed like a fait accompli.
Credit the Titans’ defense with saving the season as Jake Leftwich, Neven Yarahmadi and Sean Richardson combined to drop Fuiava a foot short of the end zone and the second round. Senior Jackson Wendling deftly recovered the ensuing onside kick and the Titans held on for a 21-20 win, but not before the Falcons had one more possession that ended with an incomplete pass and raucous celebration by the Boys in Blue.
Hobbie credited a team effort for the stop on the two-point conversion.
“We took an educated guess on what they would run,” Hobbie said. “We had the correct stunt called and that made him go somewhere else. [Leftwich] hit him first and Neven and Sean came from the inside and the outside to finish him off. That was a good example of team defense. Everybody did their job.”
Middle linebacker Chris Wicke had ten tackles and one of the two interceptions for San Marino. Outside linebacker Seth Matzumoto was credited with nine tackles and also picked off a pass. Wendling also made nine tackles. Smith made eight stops, defensive tackle Beau Perez added seven tackles and Kourosh Hassibi had six stops from his defensive tackle position as the Titans improved to 9-1-1 overall after winning the Rio Hondo League with a 4-0 mark.
Chris [Wicke] and Seth [Matzumoto] played well defensively,” said Hobbie. “And we had Wheeler [Smith] go man-to-man on their best receiver and he did a nice job.”
In spite of the numbers, Hobbie said the Falcons “were hard for us to tackle and it was hard for us to get off their blocks.”
But the coach praised his squad for taking advantage of their opponent’s mistakes to get a two touchdown lead at the break.
“We played well in the first half,” Hobbie said.
The second half? Different story.
“Dismal,” he said. “They tried to give it to us and we wouldn’t take it. We would have some good plays and then shoot ourselves in the foot. We had a lot of opportunities to get into the end zone and could have taken a much more comfortable lead.”
It was also apparent from the outset that Segerstrom was determined to make someone other than Beau Hobbie beat them. The career rushing record holder was limited to just 84 yards on 22 carries. With Wentz out of this Friday’s second-round game at North Torrance, Everyone named Hobbie hopes those numbers are significantly higher.
No Coastin’
The Titans will square off against a much larger team in terms of enrollment, roster and body mass on Friday when they meet the Saxons of North Torrance High School, the winners of the Coastal Conference who will enter the game with a 9-2 overall mark after sweeping through league pay at 5-0.
“They have one of the best running backs we have seen all year,” Mike Hobbie said of junior Stephen Bradford, who averages 153 yards per game on the ground. “He is very strong and fast and has good moves. We’ve got to be able to tackle him a lot better than we did last week. The people who carry the ball for them are going to be hard for us to stop. They are strong and good athletes.”
Hobbie also encouraged attendees to keep an eye out for wide receiver Brayden DeOcampo, who when he is not catching passes from quarterback Victor Puellas will take snaps from center himself.
“He is a very good athlete who can hurt you in a lot of ways,” said Hobbie.
The Saxons’ defense, like Segerstrom, is big, fast and tough to move.
“Offensively, we will need to make good decision, stay on blocks and execute,” Hobbie concluded. “They have plenty of athletes.”
