“This is how we make our money,” Palos Verdes coach Guy Gardner said about teaching five classes of world history and U.S. history.
Standing across the field was Chad Johnson of Mission Viejo. He taught U.S. history from 8:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. with his lesson plan on the Progressive Era and “how Teddy Roosevelt ran against William Howard Taft, splitting the Republican vote and allowing Woodrow Wilson to win the presidency.”
Good teachers make good coaches, which helps explain why No. 13-seeded Palos Verdes taking on No. 4 Mission Viejo in an opening game of the Southern Section Division 2 playoffs was going to feature well-trained teenagers refusing to go home without giving it their all.
Mission Viejo (9-2), loaded with outstanding juniors and sophomores and having played much tougher competition, used its past Division 1 playoff experience to come away with a 59-35 victory. Mission Viejo will play host to Oaks Christian in the quarterfinals.
It was validation for Johnson’s seasonlong strategy of rotating quarterbacks Luke Fahey and Draiden Trudeau every other series. Each finished with three touchdown passes. Fahey passed for 232 yards and Trudeau 122.
Rotating quarterbacks is what Corona Centennial pulled off when it won the Division 1 title in 2014. And it worked to perfection for Mission Viejo against Palos Verdes in the first half. Fahey had a three-yard touchdown pass to Phillip Bell, and Trudeau threw touchdown passes of 40 and 13 yards to Vance Spafford for a 24-7 halftime lead.
“Oh, it’s working,” Trudeau said. “Fifty-nine points tonight. Fifty-two last week. We’re great friends off the field.”
The star offensive player for the Diablos was Spafford, who had three touchdown receptions and finished with six catches for 174 yards.
“He’s a 4.4 40 guy,” Trudeau said of Spafford. “He’s going to be special.”
Hinesward Lilomaiava rushed for 134 yards and scored two touchdowns. DJ Lee caught two touchdown passes.
Mission Viejo is rotating QBs after each possession and it’s working. The Draiden Trudeau to Vance Spafford. 14-0 over Palos Verdes. 32 seconds left in first quarter. pic.twitter.com/RPY0QwdGpf
— eric sondheimer (@latsondheimer) November 4, 2023
It’s part of playoff tradition that coaches tell their players that mistakes made during the season because of inexperience shouldn’t be repeated.
“After this week, you’re not sophomores anymore,” Johnson told players. “You’re juniors. You’ve played 10 games. We’re done making those sophomore mistakes. The excuses of being young, that’s over. We need to be mature and play like upperclassmen.”
That’s what the Diablos looked like early with Fahey, a sophomore, passing to Bell, a junior, and Spafford, a sophomore, catching touchdown passes from Trudeau, a junior. And there was sophomore defensive lineman Kane Nolte acting like Nick Nolte (think “North Dallas Forty”) in spectacularly dropping a Palos Verdes player for a loss.
Palos Verdes came in 10-0 with quality wins over Edison and Corona del Mar, but the Sea Kings struggled on defense. Yet they kept fighting behind freshman quarterback Ryan Rakowski and senior receiver Luke Gayton.
Rakowski passed for 234 yards. At one point in the third quarter, he connected on four consecutive passes for 173 yards.
“The quarterback is a heck of player,” Trudeau said of Rakowski.
Gayton caught six passes for 184 yards and had touchdown catches of 71 and six yards. He also returned a kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown.
“We played our hearts out. We left everything on the field,” Gayton said.
Long after the conclusion, Palos Verdes players were hugging each other on the field saying goodbyes. Standout senior lineman Carson Moore embraced Gardner.
“Coach,” he said as a tear dropped from his right eye. “Love you. Thank you.”
One team’s season is over and the other team keeps playing. Lessons learned and lessons passed on by two public school history teachers with night jobs as football coaches.
Griffin Seals of Santa Monica catches the game-winning touchdown pass in overtime in the fog against Santa Ana.
(David Hunzicker)
There were some dramatic endings on the first night of the playoffs. In the fog at Santa Monica, Griffin Seals caught a game-winning touchdown pass in overtime to beat Santa Ana 33-27 in Southern Section Division 9.
Mayfair pulled out a 39-38 overtime win over Village Christian in Division 7 with a two-point conversion. Bonita blocked an extra point in overtime to beat Northview 21-20.
Sonora made a two-point conversion in overtime to defeat Rancho Mirage 35-34 in Division 9. Redondo Union defeated Bishop Diego 29-23 in double overtime on a touchdown pass from Nicholas London to Cadence Turner in Division 7.
Division 7 had the most “upsets” in Southern Section. No. 15 El Dorado defeated No. 2 Laguna Beach; No. 10 Redondo defeated No. 7 Bishop Diego; No. 13 Muir defeated No. 4 Diamond Ranch; No. 12 Agoura defeated. No. 5 Burroughs; No. 11 Salesian defeated No. 6 Granite Hills.
— eric sondheimer (@latsondheimer) November 4, 2023
The only No. 1 seeds beaten in the Southern Section 13 divisions were in Division 9, where Rio Hondo Prep defeated St. Margaret’s 28-26, and Division 13, where Los Amigos defeated San Gabriel 28-20. Three unbeaten teams lost in the first round _ Oxnard Pacifica, Tustin and Palos Verdes.
In the City Section, the major upset in Division I was No. 10 King/Drew defeating No. 7 Hamilton 36-30. In Division II, No. 11 Roosevelt upset No. 6 Wilson 30-24.