SGV/WHITTIER PREP SPORTS ZONE: Part One of End Zone to End Zone - Champions Edition

Go inside Rio Hondo Prep's improbable win over Santa Monica for a CIF-SS championship

Rio Hondo Prep team photo after defeating Santa Monica for a CIF-SS Div. 9 title. (Escarcega)

SANTA MONICA – There is an axiom in journalism that no one should be cheerleading when you are covering an event. A reporter should play it down the middle when you are covering a game – regardless if it’s a Super Bowl or a high school football game.

To those that feel that way, please accept our apologies but we are about to violate those rules.

There was only one word we could utter at the end of Friday night’s CIF Southern Section Division 9 game between Rio Hondo Prep and Santa Monica. It was the same word that those on the Kares’ sidelines uttered when sophomore Nate Shine batted down a ball from Santa Monica quarterback Wyatt Brown that clinched a historic 29-27 win.

YES!

This win was for the little guy who was told he was too short to play big-time football.

This win was for the small schools that were told that they couldn’t play with the big boys.

This win was for the good guys who do it right and play by the rules.

It looked good, it felt good, it felt right.

Rio Hondo Prep has been successful in shocking the area and that was the case in their 2023 playoff run. After all, it was not supposed to be here – according to the computers. They were projected to lose to Orange, Vista Del Lago, and Santa Monica by the Calpreps.com algorithms.

But as the great Chris Berman loves to say, “That’s why we play the games.”

And it was easy to think why Santa Monica would be victorious on a navy-blue-clad football field that was not easy on the eyes. They had big boys at the line of scrimmage, a left-handed quarterback who could throw it well, and a couple of tall receivers who would play a starring role in the drama.

But Rio Hondo Prep had one thing that has carried them to 14 sectional titles before Friday night.

Heart.

You can’t measure it – you can’t quantify it. Your players either have it or they don’t. For those who played in Friday night’s masterpiece, and for anyone who has ever donned a Rio Hondo Prep uniform, they’ve always played with a heart bigger than any stadium… with a little chip on its shoulder sprinkled in.

But the scene before the game was so striking, it felt much like game 4 of the 1988 World Series, where the mighty Oakland A’s (or should we call them the Las Vegas A’s) hosted a Los Angeles Dodgers team that was such an underdog that NBC Sports anchor Bob Costas called their starting lineup (that was ravaged with injuries), “the worst lineup ever fielded in a World Series.”

The feeling was universal, this was either going to be a close game or Santa Monica was going to easily come away with the win. Rio Hondo Prep coach Mark Carson was more than concerned when we caught up with him at the press luncheon on Monday of finals week. “Big in size and a great challenge,” is what Carson would say.

But they wouldn’t want it any other way. They are used to it. They were huge underdogs two years ago when they defeated host Charter Oak in a first-round playoff game. In today’s world of competitive equity, computers don’t care if your enrollment is 500 or 5,000. You are what your Calpreps rating is – and for Rio Hondo Prep they accepted the fact that the computers don’t care that they have no one bigger than 6-1.

When the Rio Hondo Prep players arrived on the field 30-40 minutes before the game to do a final walk-thru, you could tell that they didn’t care what the outside world said about them. They handle themselves with a unity that would make the Marines proud. Their stoic faces before the game showed that the moment was not too big for them.

And when Caden Mccallum scored on a two-yard run in the first quarter to give the Vikings a 7-0 lead, there was no panic on the Kares sideline. In fact, each player grew tighter in unity, knowing that there was a lot of football left to be played.

There is a thought in football theory class 101 that if you want to keep an underdog in the game, just turn the ball over. And that is exactly what Santa Monica did as they failed the cleanly capture a punt with a fumble and Rio Hondo Prep recovered.

As the saying goes, “and away we go.”

Three plays later, junior Nate Curtis scored on a two-yard run to equalize the game at 7. Curtis will play a huge role later in the game… just stay with us.

From that point to the end, this game would play out like a heavyweight championship boxing match. Each team was giving the blows and receiving the blows. Santa Monica would score on its next possession when Wyatt Brown found Griffin Seals for a 16-yard touchdown pass that for a 14-7 lead.

Rio Hondo Prep would respond on its next possession with Noah Penunuri punching it into the end zone on a nine-yard run, that would trim the Vikings lead to 14-13. From that point until the third quarter, the defenses sparkled.

Alex Mustain made a huge mistake in throwing an interception in the final stages of the second quarter. The Kares defense, however, had his back and turned back Santa Monica’s final attempt to score in the second quarter and the Kares trailed by a point at halftime.

The second half started, and this is when the fun began. Linebacker Rainn Pollock picked off a pass from Brown at midfield in the final stages of the third quarter and the Kares cashed it in on one of the most improbable plays of the games.

It was 4th down and three yards to go on the Santa Monica 18-yard line. Carson had decided not to go for the field goal and to attempt to get the first down. In Carson’s view, he felt that his team had to play four perfect games to win a sectional title. The time was now for perfection to be executed. Get the first down and you keep the drive going. If you come up short, Santa Monica takes over with much-needed momentum.

“I heard the call over the headphones and thought it was a great call,” Carson said. You would expect a run call, correct? Nope, you would be wrong. It would be a pass with Mustain tossing a perfectly thrown ball over the outstretched hands of Vikings linebacker Darian Hawkins and into the hands of Joshua Taflinger for a touchdown and a 21-14 Kares lead.

“(Taflinger) was so wide open early in the play, I was telling myself ‘Throw the ball, throw the ball,” Carson said. “It was a great call by our offensive coordinator (Randy Johnson) and our players executed it perfectly.”

“I just threw up a prayer and my boy (Taflinger) came up with a huge catch,” Mustain said. “That was the biggest touchdown our career – hands down.”

Santa Monica refused to back down and scored on its next possession with Mccallum scoring his second touchdown of the night on a 3-yard run that tied the game at 21.

And then came the drive that will be remembered in Rio Hondo Prep lore for decades to come. It started on its own 26-yard line, and it was a drive that the late Vince Lombardi would have loved. Nine plays, all of them run plays, with one player Penuruni carrying the ball eight of the nine times.

The execution was so awe-inspiring; you couldn’t help but be impressed. Santa Monica knew what was coming but was powerless to defend it.

It took the Kares seven plays to get to the Santa Monica 22 yard-line. What happened next was so extraordinary that legendary football coach Bill Belichick would have been proud. It’s called situational football, and it was executed at the highest of levels.

Mustain handed the ball off to Curtis on a fly sweep play. Curtis cut back when he saw a hole open up between the center and guard, eluded another defender at the 11 yard-line with a quick cut to the middle of the field, and had nothing but navy-blue field turf on his way to the end zone for an apparent touchdown.

Except, he didn’t score. He didn’t fumble. He didn’t trip over his own feet.

With less than two minutes left in the game, he knew that if he scored, it would leave the Vikings with plenty of time to mount one final drive. So, instead of scoring, he executed a perfect slide (that would have impressed baseball star Trey Turner) with his knee hitting the ground at the two-yard line.

“Coach Carson told him to do that, so all credit goes there,” Johnson said.

“I got the ball, and I was thinking that we needed a few yards for the first down,” Curtis said. “I was trying to get that first down and move the chains. I saw a hole, I cut back, and I knew that I could score. With the clock and where we were in the game, it was the better move for me to go down. I was thinking about it pre-snap.”

Who does that?

“That’s Rio Hondo Prep football in a nutshell,” Johnson said. “You saw it tonight.”

Historians will put this play as the single most defining moment in the history of the program. This was much like Reggie Miller hitting two consecutive improbable three-point baskets in game one of the 1995 Eastern Conference semifinals.

It was so improbable that no one saw it coming.

The clock rolled off another 40 seconds before Penuruni scored his second touchdown that gave Rio Hondo Prep a 29-21 lead.

In most games, this would be the end of the story. However, this isn’t like most stories. As a matter of fact, if you had written the script and turned it into a Hollywood producer, he’d throw it away at first blush – that’s how improbable it was – and we’re still not done.

Santa Monica had their own moment of desperation. It was 3rd down and 10 at their own 48-yard line with less than 20 seconds left. Brown took the shotgun snap, retreated for three more steps, and then launched a pass toward Griffin Seals with three Rio Hondo Prep players in position to defend the pass.

Somehow, someway, Seals was able to snatch the ball from the air and successfully completed the catch at the Rio Hondo Prep 11-yard line. “You can call it the sea of hands catch,” Carson said. “When you are in that situation, you’re onto the next play. There is no time to show any emotion.”

Two plays later, Brown connected with Charles Cravings on an 11-yard touchdown pass that trimmed the Kares’ lead to 29-27.

Time for one more untimed play. If “San Mo” scores on a two-point conversion play, the game goes into overtime. If the play is unsuccessful – Rio Hondo Prep wins. The tension was so thick on the Kares sideline, that it would be a challenge to cut it with a knife.

All the dreams, all the work, all the aspirations, would come down to one final play.

It would be Nate Shine who would be the hero of the night, as his big left-handed paw deflected Brown’s pass that hit the ground and sent the Rio Hondo Prep sideline into a wide celebration.

They had done the impossible.

David had beaten Goliath.

It felt like the Dodgers winning the World Series over the A’s in 1988.

All that was missing was the late Tommy Lasorda coming down from heaven and yelling, “How sweet it is, the fruits of victory.”

This was on par with Villanova defeating Georgetown for the 1985 NCAA Men’s Basketball championship. Villanova played the perfect game that night and won. Rio Hondo Prep played as nearly a perfect game as you could and came away with the gold plaque.

Zachary Burl #50 and Joshua Taflinger (44) embrace each other after Rio Hondo Prep’s 29-27 win over Santa Monica (Escarcega)

Players hugged each other and cried. Coaches hugged each other with tears in their eyes. When you win a sectional championship, the hugs tend to get a bit tighter.

The only thing that was a bit of a mess was the team photo that took place after the awards were passed out. A 53-year-old person, who has experienced the thrill of winning a CIF-SS title, took over and made sure that the moment was captured properly. You might know that person, he is the author of this story.

When the team departed Santa Monica HS on their way back to campus, they were given a police escort by the Santa Monica police department. The celebration rolled long into the night, with many coaches relaxing at Carson’s house while watching the coaches copy of the game.

According to Carson, he didn’t go to bed until 3 o’clock in the morning on Saturday.

“I’m still in a daze,” Carson confessed the next morning, “When the game was over, my thoughts were with my wife and family. You look around and see all the emotions, the hugs, and embraces. It doesn’t get any better than that.”

Leave it to Mustain to have the line of the night. “When you dream, you wake up. When it’s real, it’s here.”

Friday night was not a dream, it was real and historic.

And for those who were in attendance, it will be a night that will be remembered for a long time to come.

The good guys won, and it felt so damn good!

(Part Two of our column will be published on Monday night).