Central Catholic Raiders claim fourth consecutive CIF state title

Justin Rice and the defense carried the Central Catholic football team to the brink of a fourth consecutive CIF state championship.

And then, as they’ve done so often this decade, the Raiders crossed the finish line as a family, showcasing all facets in a 56-21 victory over San Marino in the Open Division Small-School State Bowl at Hornet Stadium.

The team that preaches “We” walked the walk on a chilly Saturday evening in the Capital City, clinching the program’s fourth consecutive state championship.

With the win, Central Catholic put the exclamation mark on a perfect 16-0 season and tied the record for consecutive bowl championships set by mighty De La Salle from 2009 to 2012.

“It’s amazing that a school of 360 (students) comes to work every day and wins four state titles in a row,” coach Roger Canepa said. “Going 16-0 and going through VOL, playing the teams we’ve played this year, it’s special. We showed so much heart.

“In the second half, we said, ‘Hey, we didn’t come this far to keep this game that close.’ It’s special because it doesn’t happen that much. We’ve done something only De La Salle has done.”

Hunter Petlansky accounted for three touchdowns, including scoring strikes to younger brother Cole Petlansky and Luke Navarro; Rice rushed for 216 yards and two touchdowns; and cousins Daron and Montell Bland returned the family name to the state marquee.

Two years after erupting for 103 rushing yards as a freshman in Central Catholic’s championship-game victory over Bakersfield Christian, Montell Bland set the physical tone on both sides of the ball.

The junior ripped off runs of 23, 12 and nine yards to set up the Raiders’ first two scores, then crushed San Marino backup quarterback Mark Wicke in the third quarter.

“I was just trying to get my team ready,” he said.

Daron Bland returned two interceptions for touchdowns as Central Catholic gut-punched San Marino with 28 unanswered points in the third quarter. Two pick-sixes by one player is believed to be a state bowl record.

“That’s what coach (Billy) Hylla trains us to do … to punch teams right in the mouth,” Montell Bland said of the Raiders’ defensive coordinator. “He gets us fired up, and we come out and play harder than we do in the first half.”

The Titans (15-1) were at a disadvantage from the start.

San Marino took the field without its true titan – senior quarterback Carson Glazier, who left last week’s Southern California regional with concussion-like symptoms. Per a state rule, confirmed by CIF Executive Director Roger Blake on Saturday, Glazier had to wait at least seven days between games.

Saturday was the seventh day, and he spent it in street clothes, twirling a football in his dangerous left hand along the sidelines.

Glazier was the maestro in the Titans’ explosive spread attack, a player coach Mike Hobbie said was irreplaceable. The 6-foot quarterback pushed San Marino toward a historic state bowl berth with unfathomable numbers: 4,119 yards, 47 touchdowns and a 78.1 completion percentage.

With Glazier in the gun, the Titans sought first-round knockouts, stretching the field with wide receivers J.P. Shohfi (eight catches, 197 yards) and Aiden Santino (five catches, 115 yards). Each week, for three months, it was a rousing success.

“Our game is to throw the ball down the field and not go for dink yardage,” Hobbie told the Los Angeles Daily News. “We try to rush down the field in a hurry. People say, ‘Why take the high risk?’ But it is not risky to me.

“Carson is a master of completing those passes. … Without him, we’re a totally different team. I’d like to say our backups are equal, but they are not. Carson does much more than complete passes. He is extremely valuable in other areas, too.”

Without Glazier, San Marino turned to a senior with nerves of steel. Wicke (9 of 17 for 199 yards) helped lead the Titans’ come-from-behind victory over Sierra Canyon in last week’s Southern California regional. The Titans trailed by 21 in the fourth quarter.

Still, this was always Glazier’s game.

Or was it?

While the high school football world watched his status closely throughout the week, and even in the hours leading up to Saturday’s contest, Central Catholic kept its focus on the game.

Canepa called the program’s fifth appearance in a state championship bowl a “business trip” during the team dinner Friday evening. He begged his team to trust the tried-and-true formula: effort plus efficiency.

The Raiders struggled with that math in the first half.

Self-inflicted wounds dogged the regional champions in the first half. Both sides had long runs wiped off the books because of a holding call. San Marino turned the ball over twice, including a fumble on the opening possession.

Petlansky marched the Raiders down the field, completing a five-play, 64-yard drive with a 17-yard run to make it 7-0.

The Titans answered with a 74-yard catch-and-run by Santino, who bounced off safety Rice and into space. Justin and Jared Rice gave chase, but there was no catching the Titans’ speedy slot receiver.

With defenders converging on Santino, Wicke’s ball had to be perfect. It was.

Unshakable in his poise and posture, the 225-pound Petlansky answered on the next possession. He danced in the pocket, avoiding the rush with each step, before flipping an eight-yard pass to Justin Rice.

Four plays later, Petlansky faked a handoff and peeled back to his right, floating a 22-yard pass to Cole Petlansky at the goal line. The younger Petlansky missed most of the season while recovering from an ACL injury, but he showed no ill-effects on the play. He leaped, with a defender on his hip, and corralled the ball at its highest point, falling into the end zone for a 14-7 lead.

After missing on his first three throws, Hunter Petlansky completed his final four of the first half for 79 yards and two touchdowns. He will leave Central Catholic 17-0 in the postseason with three state championships.

At that point, the get-away seemed imminent.

On the Raiders’ next possession, with San Marino committed to stopping Justin Rice and the run, Hunter Petlansky again faked the handoff. This time, he spied Navarro down the middle of the field for a 34-yard touchdown pass. The score continued a torrid stretch for the junior tight end. Navarro had a touchdown reception and a team-high 65 yards and three catches in Central Catholic’s 49-14 victory over Marin Catholic in the Northern California regional.

Mistakes would cost Central Catholic that momentum, though.

A breakdown in coverage allowed Shohfi to break away for a 68-yard gain to the Central Catholic 7. Wicke stood tall in the pocket, releasing the ball just as Montell Bland was upon him, affording Shohfi, who would set a single-season national record with 2,464 yards, enough time to wiggle free.

Wicke leaped over the line from the 1 with 17 seconds left in the half to make it 21-14.

A proven second-half team, Central Catholic erased all doubt with a 28-0 flurry to start the third quarter.

“We were kind of slow and couldn’t run the ball really well at the beginning,” Canepa said. “When we went into halftime, we said, ‘Hey, they’re overloading,’ and we found a weakness. What we do well is when we find a weakness, we abuse it.”

Justin Rice scored on carries of 17 and 38 yards in the third quarter. The pressure San Marino achieved in the first half vanished in the third quarter. He more than tripled his first-half production in the third quarter alone, rushing for 149 yards on just seven carries.

Daron Bland cut Wicke’s night short with his two pick-six interceptions in the third quarter. His returns covered 43 and 39 yards, the latter making it 49-14 and drawing whispers of a running-clock fourth quarter.

While the soft-spoken junior struggled to frame his loud play with words, his cousin captured the essence of the victory.

“I know we’re cousins, but that’s my brother,” said Montell Bland, who finished with 91 rushing yards on 11 carries, a sack and an interception. “We’re that close.”

That camaraderie permeates through the program. The Raiders, young and old, huddled at the 25-yard line, clutching a trophy and championship caps for a bank of cameras, many shooting a live feed across the state.

For the fourth year in a row, Central Catholic stood alone in the winner’s circle, surrounded by family.

“It’s a ‘We’ thing,” Canepa said, “and it’s been like that all year.”

This story was originally published December 19, 2015 at 7:51 PM with the headline "Central Catholic Raiders claim fourth consecutive CIF state title."