The quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section high school football playoffs took place last Friday night and of the five area teams that went in, only one came out victorious. San Jacinto (Div. 6) is the lone team moving on after beating Oak Park 51-32, while Chaparral, Paloma Valley, Elsinore and Tahquitz all had their seasons come to an end. Rancho Verde, which is somewhat close to the area, also extended their season, but the Mustangs are more of a Moreno Valley-based team. They advanced in the Division 8 brackets by defeating Elsinore, 53-25, behind the efforts of Landon Debruyn, who completed 16 of 27 passes for 275 yards and added 46 yards on the ground.
Rancho Verde (5-7), who totaled more than 500 yards on offense to earn its second win of the season over Elsinore (8-4), were led by Mykai Skinner with his 13 carries for 108 yards. Elsinore’s Jamari Jones, who gained a career-high 121 rushing yards and scored twice against Liberty last week, finished with 38 yards, and quarterback Semaj Moore only had 12 passing attempts, completing 5 of those for 61 yards with a touchdown and an interception. The Mustangs will take on Lakewood (7-5) Friday, Nov. 18, at 7 p.m.
San Jacinto won their quarterfinal playoff game against Oak Park by a score of 51-32. The Tigers were led by QB Dereun Dortch (Sr) who completed 18 passes for 321 yards with 3 touchdowns in the air and had one interception. Dortch also had 46 yards rushing with one TD on the ground as well. Dillon Gresham (Jr) was the receiver of choice for Dortch on the night with 10 catches for 238 yards, scoring all 3 receiving TDs. Adding other scores were Malachi Brown (Jr) (20 carries, 107 yards, 2 TDs) and Vincent Holmes (Sr) who had one rush for 10 yards in his scoring assist. The Tigers were led on defense by Dillon Gresham (Jr) (2 interceptions), Dre Taylor (Jr) also added an interception as well. San Jacinto will play at home this week against Calabasas (8-4) Friday, Nov. 18, at 7 p.m.
The Pumas were favored heavily in Division 3, but like all sports, anything can happen on any given day. Corona del Mar defeated Chaparral 41-28 in their CIF-SS Division 3 quarterfinal matchup. Even though the Pumas put up 62 points last week in a win over Thousand Oaks, they couldn’t put much together, despite a pair of late touchdown passes by Caron Tyler to Stacy Dobbins and Tommy Long, which made the final score a bit less lopsided.
Chaparral did get to within six points at halftime, but Corona del Mar would get the only score of the third quarter when David Rasor connected with Russell Weir for a 20-yard TD. A two-point conversion failed as a twelve-point lead would hold into the fourth quarter. From there the Sea Kings would counter Chaparral’s 14 points with 15 of their own. Dobbins finished with 13 receptions for 115 yards and two touchdowns.
Other notable action came from the Paloma Valley Wildcats who fell to Golden Valley’s Grizzlies 42-28 last Friday night in a CIF-SS Division 7 quarterfinal football game. Senior Stephan Gallegos finished his final game rushing for 184 yards on 17 carries while KJ Misini led the Wildcat receivers with three receptions for 71 yards. Paloma Valley, the champions of the Sunbelt League, finished their season with a 9-3 overall record.
Scores from the quarterfinal round of the CIF-SS playoffs are below.
Friday, Nov. 11
DIVISION 3
Corona del Mar (7-3) – 41, Chaparral (7-5) – 28
DIVISION 6
San Jacinto (10-2) – 51, Oak Park (7-5) – 32
Up next: *San Jacinto vs. Calabasas (8-4)
DIVISION 7
Golden Valley (7-4) – 42, Paloma Valley (9-3) – 28
DIVISION 8
Rancho Verde (5-7) – 53, Elsinore (8-4) – 25
Up next: *Rancho Verde vs. Lakewood (7-5)
DIVISION 9
San Dimas (8-4) – 45, Tahquitz (8-4) – 21
*For the 2022-2023 prep sports season, the Valley News Sports Department will have photographers and game reports for schools and sports inside a limited coverage area due to print space and manpower. Those schools include Great Oak, Temecula Valley, Chaparral, Murrieta Valley, Murrieta Mesa, Vista Murrieta, Linfield Christian, Rancho Christian, Elsinore, Paloma Valley, Liberty, St. Jeanne de Lestonnac, Heritage, Temecula Prep, Hamilton (Anza), Cornerstone Christian, Temescal Canyon, Lakeside and the River Springs Charter Schools (no football programs). Scores and schedules may be posted for other area schools, but full coverage cannot be guaranteed.
All stats, schedules, photos and scores are supplied by local high school athletic directors, MaxPreps, CIF-SS offices, contributing writers/photographers and countless fans of the games via social media. To submit any additions or corrections to the schedule or stats, please email sports@reedermedia.com.
JP Raineri can be reached by email at jp@reedermedia.com.
