There was no denying Dominic Hawk and the Calipatria High School football team.

Hawk, the Hornets’ diminutive senior quarterback, ran for four touchdowns and three 2-point conversions, leading Calipatria to a 44-25 victory Thursday in the CIF Division 5-AA championship game at Palomar College.

“It’s all about hard work,” said Hawk, who scored on TD runs of 3, 8, 20 and 6 yards to lead the top-seeded Hornets to their first-ever CIF title in football. “We were 3-7 last year and lost in the playoffs, so we came back hungry this year.”

The Hornets satisfied their appetite as Hawk rushed for 129 yards on 24 attempts as Calipatria finished the season with a 9-2 record, its first winning campaign since 2016.

“A lot of these guys have been playing together since they were 5 years old,” said Calipatria second-year coach Tony Leon. “We’ve been more of a basketball school, but we wanted to change the culture for football. We knew we had something special this year.”

Interceptions led to Calipatria’s first two scores. Senior free safety Caleb Spence picked off Coastal Academy’s first pass attempt of the game and returned it 41 yards for a score with 6:38 remaining in the first period.

“We study film all the time, and we knew that play was coming,” said Spence of his fifth interception of the season. “We came out prepared for this game.”

The Stingrays’ third possession was also ended by an interception, this one by senior linebacker Oscar Lopez, whose short return set up Calipatria at the Coastal Academy 47-yard line two minutes into the second period. Eight plays later, Hawk scored on a 3-yard run, and a two-point conversion pass from Juan Perez to Aidyn Zambrano gave the Hornets a 16-0 lead midway through the second stanza.

A 55-yard pass from Hawk to senior running back Angel Maytorena led to an 8-yard TD run by Hawk with 2:24 left in the first half, and Hawk’s second conversion run of the night boosted the Hornets’ lead to 24-0.

Coastal Academy got on the scoreboard with 19 seconds left in the half on a 2-yard run by sophomore running back Moses Gilmour. The scoring drive was kept alive by three receptions by senior receiver Cedric Smith for a combined 34 yards.

Smith finished with seven catches for 109 yards and two second-half touchdowns of 52 and 9 yards as No. 3 seed Coastal Academy finished its season at 10-3 under coach Stephen Patton in its first year of 11-man competition after three seasons of 8-man football.

Prior to this year, Calipatria had not won a league game nor had a winning season since 2016. Players have also been hard to come by over the years, but the Hornets finished as Desert League runner-up to Holtville this season.

“We had 19 players before 7-on-7 started, but when school started, we had 53 turn out,” said Leon. “We were able to field a JV team.”

Thursday’s game was the first CIF final appearance for Calipatria since the 1991 Class 1A championship game. Hawk finished with 30 touchdowns for the  season.

The 5-AA title game was the first high school contest held at Palomar’s new 3,700-seat facility, which opened in September for the Comets football team.

“We’re more than excited about playing at this first-rate facility,” said CIF commissioner Joe Heinz. “It allows us to move the games around, and this is just an incredible facility that’s great for the community. We’re looking forward to three days of championship football here.”

Palomar is also hosting the 8-man championship game on Friday and four girls flag football finals on Saturday.

Calipatria 44, Coastal Academy 25

Coastal Academy   0  6  12  7 — 25Calipatria   8  16  6  14 — 44

C – Spence 41 interception return (Hawk run)

C – Hawk 3 run (Zambrano pass from Perez)

C – Hawk 8 run (Hawk run)

CA – Gilmour 2 run (pass failed)

CA – Smith 52 pass from Garland (pass failed)

C – Hawk 20 run (run failed)

CA – Cornejo 20 pass from Garland (pass failed)

C – Hawk 6 run (Hawk run)

C – Pollard 17 run (run failed)

CA – Smith 9 pass from Garland (Boone kick)

Originally Published: November 21, 2024 at 10:19 PM PST