ORANGE – Their third time wasn’t the charm, but their fourth time sure was. With a 42-15 victory over Orange High School, the San Jacinto Tigers won their program’s first-ever CIF Southern Section football title Friday, Nov. 25.
San Jacinto High School, which serves all of San Jacinto, was founded in 1910, making it one of the area’s oldest accredited public high schools. Prior to last Friday’s trip to the Division 6 championship game, the Tigers had suffered three losses in their previous title runs, the most recent coming in 2018 to Culver City. A 61-21 loss.
Heading into the halftime break of their matchup against Orange (11-3), things were looking grim for San Jacinto (12-2), who trailed 15-14. When the Tigers emerged from their visiting locker room for the third quarter, the energy was different. So different in fact, San Jacinto scored 28 unanswered points in the second half, led by senior QB Dereun Dortch, who had four touchdown passes in the game, and ran in two more on the ground.
The Panthers defense kept Dortch at bay for most of the first half, even keeping him from completing a single pass in the first quarter. It wouldn’t be until the first play of the second quarter that he would connect with junior wideout Dillon Gresham for a 38-yard gain. The two then hooked up again on the next play, as Dortch hit Gresham in the corner of the end zone to give San Jacinto a 7-0 lead.
Despite a couple of miscues that led to the Panthers scoring, San Jacinto’s defense came up big when they needed to. Though they allowed more than 230 rushing yards in the game, three forced turnovers would cost Orange when they needed the ball the most.
Dortch finished the night going 13 for 18 with 291 passing yards, while gaining 70 more on the ground. Gresham finished up with nine receptions for 247 yards and 3 touchdown catches (26 on the season). Junior RB Malachi Brown had 59 yards rushing in the game, and senior WR Vincent Holmes contributed to the scoring efforts with 5 catches for 44 yards, and a TD.
The Tigers seem primed and ready for their next matchup, advancing to the Division 3AA CIF State Football Regionals Friday, Dec. 2. Game time will be at 7:30 p.m. at San Jacinto’s Tiger Stadium.
The newly crowned Division 6 champions will be facing University City (11-2), the No. 1 seed out of the San Diego Section. The Centurions beat No. 2 seed Point Loma 33-28 last Friday for the Division 3 title. If the Tigers win this game, they most likely will travel North to face a team out of Northern California. The San Jacinto Education Foundation will be providing the pre-game meal for the team, having it catered by Emilio’s Restaurant. More information on the first-round game for San Jacinto can be found online at www.cifstate.org.
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JP Raineri can be reached by email at jp@reedermedia.com.
