Palo Alto High's magical football season came to end with a 42-28 loss to Orange Lutheran in the first-ever CIF State Bowl Championships Division II title game on Saturday at the Home Depot Center in Carson.
Orange Lutheran (14-1), ranked No. 4 in the state and No. 17 in the country, had too many offensive weapons for Paly to handle. The Lancers found the end zone on five of their first seven possessions and all four of their possessions in the first half to seize a 28-7 halftime lead.
Orange Lutheran scored on drives of 39, 83 and 97 yards for a 21-0 lead with 4:37 remaining in the second quarter. Paly (12-2), which had its 10-game win streak snapped, moved the ball effectively in the first half and scored on an eight-yard pass from senior quarterback Nick Goodspeed to junior receiver Mike Scott with 2:20 left in the half to slice the lead to 21-7. The touchdown capped a 64-yard drive in 10 plays.
Lutheran, however, moved quickly downfield with just 1:50 remaining, culminating in a 25-yard scoring pass from senior quarterback Aaron Corp to senior receiver Austin Pettis. Corp, headed to USC next fall, accounted for 190 yards, had three touchdown passes and a 31-yard touchdown run in the first half.
Paly gained 180 yards in the first half, but committed its first turnover in the postseason on its initial drive of the game when Scott had a reception stripped from his hands. Lutheran recovered and went on to score its first touchdown.
"It was just like Oak Grove," Palo Alto coach Earl Hansen said, referring to his team's Sept. 22, turnover-influenced loss. "We made mistakes early and, just like that, that was it."
The Lancers increased its lead to 35-7 before Paly found the end zone on a 15-yard scoring toss from Goodspeed to Scott to cut the lead to 35-14 with 11:23 left in the game. The Vikings made it a game with a pair of touchdown runs from junior fullback Sione Mataele of two and six yards to get Paly within 42-28 with 4:09 left to play.
Scott paced Paly with a season-high 10 receptions for 210 yards and two touchdowns. Scott had 15 catches for 200 yards coming into the game.
Goodspeed ended his fine Paly career by completing 18 of 29 passes for 279 yards, two touchdown passes and an interception.
The Vikings needed to corral Corp to win, but the USC-bound senior threw for 208 yards (completing 16 of 32 throws), rushed for 136 and had a hand in all of Orange Lutheran's six touchdowns. Pettis, headed for Boise State next fall, had eight catches for 104 yards and four touchdowns. Lutheran outgained Paly, 402-373.
Paly junior free saftety Mike Martin and junior linebacker Jordan Jefferson had interceptions for Paly.
Palo Alto's vaunted rushing game, which had carried the team all season, was limited to 89 yards on 32 carries.
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