Central Catholic wins third consecutive state crown

Central Catholic High football coach Roger Canepa posed for pictures with the CIF Division IV state championship trophy for a third consecutive season on Friday, after a convincing 31-19 victory over St. Margaret’s (San Juan Capistrano) at the StubHub Center.

Canepa cradled the hardware in his left arm and held up three fingers on his right hand, which is all he has remaining after losing the pinky on that hand in a well-drilling accident nearly 35 years ago.

“One for the thumb!” said Canepa, drawing laughs from his players by using an exhortation that is reserved for teams seeking a fifth championship. “You guys are just jealous because I’m the only guy who can do this.”

Senior Jared Rice is among those Raiders who won’t get the chance to help adorn his coach’s thumb, having played his final prep game. The 6-foot-5, 200-pound two-way star has scholarship offers in hand from UNLV, Sacramento State, Portland State, Wyoming, Idaho and Northern Arizona. And if any of those schools were wavering in their commitment to the tight end/safety, well, they probably aren’t any longer.

Rice did a little bit of everything against the Tartans (15-1), recording a sack, picking off two passes (he nearly had a third) and catching six passes for 73 yards, including two touchdowns.

His performance carried extra significance for him because his junior brother, 2,000-yard rusher Justin Rice, was shelved at halftime after playing sparingly in the first half with a knee injury.

“It was very special,” said Rice, when asked about picking up the slack for his brother. “It was sad seeing him sit in the locker room at halftime, taking off his uniform.”

With the younger Rice limited, the Raiders employed a tailback-by-committee strategy, getting 49 yards from sophomore Montell Bland – who delivered a 100-yard outing as a sub for injured 2,000-yard rusher Matt Ringer in last year’s state finale – and 83 yards from senior Kalhiel Dillard.

“No, I didn’t know,” said Dillard when asked whether he knew that he’d carry the ball so frequently, a season-high 13 times. “But I’m ready for the ball anytime. Especially being a senior; I knew I had to leave it on the field.”

All the Raiders seemed ready to do that, right from the opening kickoff.

Central Catholic (12-3) won the toss and deferred until the second half, giving St. Margaret’s the first crack on offense.

The Tartans went three-and-out and after a booming punt by Stanford-bound Charlie Beall – he had four punts for an average of 43.2 yards – the Raiders set up shop at their 32. Eleven plays later, junior quarterback Hunter Petlansky dove in from the 1 to give the Raiders a 7-0 lead.

Just by the way CC’s defensive and offensive lines dominated on the game’s opening possessions, one could tell that St. Margaret’s was in for a long evening.

Central Catholic doubled its lead on the first play of the second quarter when Petlansky hit Rice on the first of their two touchdown connections. The first, which led to a 14-0 lead, and the second, which put the Raiders ahead 31-6, were nearly identical. Rice gained a step on his defender and Petlansky placed a perfectly lobbed ball where only Rice could get it.

With Rice having at least five inches on St. Margaret’s tallest defensive back, the catches seemed about as difficult as picking a peach off a tree.

“The jammed me off the line with a linebacker and then covered me downfield with a corner,” Rice said.

Surely, he had to be licking his chops over that mismatch.

“I was … yeah,” he said.

Leading 14-0, Central Catholic made one of its few mistakes when Petlansky fumbled inside the Tartans’ red zone. Just like that, St. Margaret’s had stopped a promising Raiders drive, and had both the ball and a glimmer of hope.

Neither lasted long.

Running out of the wildcat formation, the Tartans’ versatile Nick Shanks took a direct snap and rolled to his right.

“With him being the wildcat, I assumed he didn’t have the strongest arm,” Rice said. “So I undercut (the route).”

His interception gave Central Catholic the ball at St. Margaret’s 43. After a 39-yard bomb to Ryan Vierra took the ball to the 5, Bland capped a short, four-play drive with a 4-yard dance into the end zone.

After falling behind by three scores, St. Margaret’s went to the air for the remainder of the first half and found success. Quarterback George Krantz had completions of 19, 26 and 16 yards, setting up a 4-yard pass to Shanks. The extra-point was no good and the score stood at 21-6.

Central raced the clock just before halftime and Bryce Wade connected on a 32-yard field goal as time expired making it 24-6 at the break.

The Raiders opened the second half with the ball and promptly marched 80 yards on 11 plays, the capper a 26-yard pass to Rice over a diminutive cornerback.

Petlansky finished the game 11-of-19 for 168 yards. He also ran eight times for 54 yards.

“I knew coming in that we were going to pass more with Justin limited,” Petlansky said. “Based on the films they saw of us, they probably expected us to run. I think I was ready. I felt ready.”

St. Margaret’s had another impressive drive on its first possession of the second half, driving to the 12 on the strength of Krantz’s arm.

But Rice picked off a pass at the goal line and was into Tartans territory, though a penalty flag brought it back to Central’s 44.

St. Margaret’s added a TD with just seconds to play in the game, and then scored another 15 seconds later, with no time showing on the clock, after recovering the onsides kick.

This story was originally published December 19, 2014 at 10:12 PM with the headline "Central Catholic wins third consecutive state crown."