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NORWALK — Unable to plant any weight on his right foot, Nate Sanchez required help off the field Saturday night at Cerritos College. After the equivalent of an NFL season, his body could no longer take the toll.
Serra teammates Terence Loville and Matt Rollandi never hesitated to come to his assistance, much like the dynamic duo rallied around the rest of the Padres in a frantic finish to the California Interscholastic Federation Division II state championship game.
“That fourth quarter meant a lot to everyone on this team,” Loville said. “We rallied together and left our blood, sweat and tears on that field. Nothing to be mad about.”
Loville and Rollandi each caught touchdowns in the final four minutes of a hotly contested 35-27 loss to Corona del Mar, an interception in the end zone with two seconds left denying a shot at overtime and a second state title in three years.
“Sadly, I can speak from experience,” Serra coach Patrick Walsh told his team after the game. “In 2016, we lost and it hurt for a little while. But several days later, months, whatever. What you remember are the guys you are leaning on right now, the guys that you are hugging right now, the guys you are crying with right now. And that’s OK.”
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Serra (13-2) couldn’t have scripted a better twist at the beginning.
Quarterback Daylin McLemore, a three-star recruit, returned to the starting lineup after a 49-day absence due to a broken collarbone suffered Oct. 26.
“That was everything to me,” McLemore said. “The day I got hurt I remember marking this date on my calendar.”
In the first quarter alone, the 6-foot-3, 200-pound senior went 8-of-8 for 88 yards, and also ran for a 9-yard TD on the opening drive.
Corona del Mar (16-0) also featured a highly regarded dual-threat QB in Ethan Garbers, who is bound for the Pac-12 to play at Washington.
The 6-3, 190-pound senior led the game in both rushing and passing, accounting for five scores — almost six, if not for a goal-line stand by Serra as time ran out in the first half to go into the locker room trailing 14-7.
But the Padres, who were gashed for the most points in a single game this season, simply couldn’t corral Garbers for 48 minutes, the signature moment a 10-play, 99-yard drive to make it 28-14 with 2:35 left in the third quarter after a pooch punt by McLemore had pinned the Sea Kings.
“It was essentially impossible,” said Walsh when asked how to defend Corona del Mar. “They showed championship pedigree and they went 99 yards to win the game. And some of the throws that were made, some of the catches that were made, you only see on Sundays.”
Garbers ran it 15 times for 142 yards, crossing the goal line once. He also went 28 of 41 for 255 yards with four TDs through the air. His 6-yard strike to Stanford commit John Humphreys for a seemingly insurmountable 35-14 lead with 5:12 to go in the game pushed Garbers’ season totals to 5,034 passing yards and 71 touchdowns.
Only ex-Folsom QB Jake Browning, who incidentally went to Washington, threw for more TDs in a single season — 75 as a junior in 2013, then 91 as a senior.
Knowing points would be a premium, Serra offensive coordinator Darius Bell designed a package of trick plays. The Padres employed a fly sweep, reverse, flea-flicker to open the game. Then struck it rich on their first play from scrimmage in the second quarter, a backwards pass to Sanchez, who flicked it Loville for a 65-yard touchdown in which he made one player miss, then sprinted to the end zone.
“We don’t call them trick plays, we call them win plays,” Walsh said. “They’re win plays because Coach Bell does an amazing job of studying the defense and identifying things that where we feel like we can take advantage of them.”
Tempers flared in the fourth quarter after the referees flagged Corona del Mar for a late hit out of bounds that essentially ended McLemore’s high school career.
“It just really got to the point where for him, he looked at and I looked at him, and the pain was just too much to bear,” Walsh said.
Sophomore Dominique Lampkin, who made six starts in his absence and led the team to Central Coast Section and NorCal titles, fumbled his first snap under center and an incompletion turned it over on downs inside the red zone with 9:19 left.
Apparently, he felt a little cold after standing on the sidelines for the majority of the game.
“I said, ‘Go run to the 20 and back,’ and next thing you know he looks like Superman on cleats out there,” Walsh said.
“I was shivering a little bit,” Lampkin said. “But when I got in, I took that one hit and it just woke everything. My adrenaline came in and woke me up.”
His teammates weren’t worried.
“It’s just next-man up,” said Loville, who caught a 20-yard TD with 3:43 remaining to get within 35-20. “Dom knew coming into this game if Daylin got hurt one more time he’d be in. He led us here and he finished us off.”
The Padres recovered an onside kick courtesy of Will Mauer, then Lampkin promptly found Rollandi in the back of the end zone on a 30-yard heave with 2:46 to go.
The defense forced a three-and-out and Serra embarked on a drive that left it 20 yards away from extending its titles hopes into overtime.
“This team had so much resilience all year long,” Walsh said. “We lose our starting quarterback Week 8 and the team just continues to push and play for one another and strive to be the best human beings they can be. And they grew up, they matured this year.
“And I was so proud of that effort and not surprised that it came down to the last possession.”
Walsh told his team it’s OK to feel to pain.
The healing process began with tears and hugs after the game, with two teammates helping another.
What will they remember the most?
“Just the relationships I built with everyone,” McLemore said. “Going to practice every day, just working hard and making friendships that will last forever.”
“It means everything to me,” Loville said. “Kids like Matt, Nus, Jackson, Nate, they’re going to be my dawgs for 20, 30, 40 years — just for life.”
