Football: Bosco Beats Centennial, 70-49, in South Regional

Corona Centennial has been to four State Bowl Championships before, and as it was trying to reach another on Saturday, the Huskies scored seven touchdowns.

And lost.

Bellflower St. John Bosco, the undefeated winner of the Trinity League and the Southern Section Pac-5 Division, got seven touchdowns from sophomore tailback Sean McGrew and scored a 70-49 victory over Centennial at Cerritos College in the South Regional.

Bosco (15-0) will play next week at the StubHub Center in Carson against the state’s most prolific program, Concord De La Salle, for the Open Division Bowl Championship. De La Salle (14-0) was a 45-17 winner over Folsom.

McGrew rushed 17 times for 367 yards, and he also caught a screen pass that went 76 yards for a score.

That was one of three TD passes thrown by junior Josh Rosen, who finished with 243 yards. Another scoring pass, a 31-yarder to Jaleel Wadood, broke a 21-21 tie in the third quarter.

Centennial, which defeated Vista Murrieta for the Southern Section Inland Division championship a week ago, 26-12, and scored 86 against Upland in the semifinals, was outstanding on offense as well. Robert Webber threw for 422 yards and five touchdowns, and Tre Watson rushed for 224 yards with two TDs.

Corona del Mar 24, Nordhoff 8

The undefeated Sea Kings blocked two punts, intercepted two passes and, on offense, scored two second half touchdowns to win their 25th in a row. Corona del Mar has a chance to become the first team in Orange County history to win 16 games in a season next Saturday, noon, at the StubHub Center in Carson when it plays Atherton Sacred Heart Prep (13-1) for the Division III State Bowl Championship. Sacred Heart was a 42-7 winner Saturday over El Cerrito in the North Regional.

Robby Hoffman blocked two punts, both of which led to field goal opportunities. The first was successful, as sophomore Jason Neiger kicked a 32-yarder. He later missed from 36 and 26 yards.

CdM, coming off its third consecutive Southern Section title, was boosted by a first-quarter 46-yard interception return for a touchdown by Matt Deverian. The play gave CdM a 10-0 lead it took into halftime, and seemed to put Nordhoff—a two-time defending section champion—in a bit of panic mode as it started to abandon its strength, its running game, as the Sea King defense led by Parker Chase—who had two sacks and caused a fumble—flexed its muscle. But the Rangers were playing a game of pick-your-poison as Charlie Griffin also had an interception for CdM, and Justin Hess recovered a fumble.

In the second half, Pacific Coast League champion Corona del Mar finally got an offensive touchdown midway through the third quarter on Luke Napolitano’s 37-yard scoring pass to Bo St Geme; the 44-yard drive was set up by the defense’s stand on fourth-and-1.  Napolitano’s 11-yard run capped a 64-yard drive that took half the fourth quarter for a 24-0 lead. The Rangers (13-2) scored with 2:10 remaining on Tanner Workman’s 3-yard pass to Austin Wolcott, and a pass to Matt Woodcock on the conversion.

Bo St. Geme had nine receptions for 115 yards for the Sea Kings. Napolitano passed for 157 yards.