Tiny Rio Hondo Prep too much for Poway in Southern California football regionals – elcajon newson Elcajon News only

POWAY – Rio Hondo Prep is a small private Christian high school in Arcadia. Enrollment: barely 100. Seventy-one of the students are male, and 44 of them play varsity football.

But what the Kares lack in numbers, they more than make up for in grit.

And so Poway High School, enrollment 2,233, the San Diego Section’s Division 2 champions, found out on a cool Saturday night at Titan Stadium.

Rio Hondo turned a game tied at halftime into a 28-14 walkaway in the 3-A Southern California Regional championship game.

The Kares (13-1) go on to play in the school’s first ever state championship next Saturday in Long Beach. For Poway (6-8), its season is over after reaching the Southern California Regional for the first time.

“I knew what their gameplan would be,” said Poway coach Brandon Harris. “Their gameplan was going to be to bleed the clock, eliminate our offense from the field. We had only six possessions. We couldn’t get them off the field consistently enough.”

In an era of pass-happy, spread offenses, Rio Hondo Prep turns the clock back to the 1960s. Run the ball first, run it second and run it some more. The visitors came in averaging 334 rushing yards —and just 64 passing yards — per game

Rushing touchdowns: 61. Passing touchdowns: 12.

For 24 minutes on Saturday, in a 7-7 first half, Poway hung with the Kares. But in the second half, the Titans wore down. Rio Hondo scored touchdowns on its first three second-half possessions to build a 28-7 lead.

Poway scored a touchdown on a 7-yard pass from Ty Hurst to Colin McCann with 5:52 to play to pull to within 28-14. The Titans nearly recovered an onside kick only for the ball to slip through a player’s hands.

Rio Hondo took over on the Poway 49 and ran out the clock, kneeling down to end the game on the Poway 5.

“They’re definitely very well coached,” said 6-foot-6 Poway defensive end/tight end James Clifford. “They’re very precise. Every man does his job. They’re a very physical team, even though they don’t have the biggest size.”

Poway took the opening kickoff and covered 68 yards in 12 plays. A fourth-and-three conversion from the RHP 17 keyed the drive, which ended on an 8-yard touchdown run by Luke Jorgensen.

Rio Hondo tied the game 7-7 with 5:01 to play in the first half. The score came on a fourth-and-15, 17-yard pass from Yanick Diaz to Nathaniel Curtis. It was RHP’s first touchdown pass since Oct. 4. The Kares had completed just one pass the previous three games.

But the pass would play a key factor for the visitors. On the first play of the second half, Diaz completed a 39-yard strike to Tyler Dang, setting up a 4-yard TD run for a 14-7 lead.

The visitors scored TDs on their next two possessions, all the yards coming on the ground for a 28-7 lead, which virtually clinched the game.

Rio Hondo Prep finished with 237 yards rushing on 42 carries, a 5.6-yard per carry average. Poway, meanwhile, struggled to move via the ground. Jorgensen, who came in averaging 89 yards rushing, was limited to 40 yards on 13 carries.

Hurst completed 15 of 24 passes for 145 yards and one touchdown.

While the ending was disappointing, the season as a whole for Poway was memorable. Playing in the rugged Avocado League, the Titans closed the regular season on a six-game losing streak, five of the losses by double digits.

But Poway pulled an about-face in the playoffs, stringing together three playoff wins by an average score of 51-19 to win the San Diego Section Division 2 title.

“It just says that we showed a lot of poise and perseverance and regrouped,” said Harris. ”Our record doesn’t indicate how good of a season we had. And we’re not going anywhere. We’ll be back.”

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Rio Hondo Prep 28, Poway 14

Rio Hondo Prep 0 7 14 7 – 28

Poway 7 0 0 7 – 14

P — Jorgensen 8 run (Hughes kick)

RHP — Curtis 17 pass from Diaz (Chan kick)

RHP — Penunuri 4 run (Chan kick)

RHP — Penunuri 3 run (Chan kick)

RHP — Holcomb 4 runn (Chan kick)

P — McCann 7 pass from Hurst (Hughes kick)