History suggests Central Catholic will reign amid the rain

As if the drama of a state championship between undefeated teams wasn’t enough, Mother Nature plans to grace Hornet Stadium with her presence this weekend.

Rain is in the forecast for Saturday’s CIF Open Division Small-School State Bowl between three-time reigning champion Central Catholic and San Marino, the pass-happy Southern California champion.

On Thursday, the Central Catholic Raiders practiced with wet footballs, rehearsing snaps, hand-offs and throws.

“The ball is going to be wet, but the footing should be pretty good,” said coach Roger Canepa, referring to Hornet Stadium’s artificial surface. “That’s the one thing. If we’re playing at our place, that would be great. We’d have mud. Straight, downhill running sounds a lot better than cutting around the field.”

Traditionally, inclement weather has favored running teams such as Central Catholic. The Raiders feature a pair of 1,000-yard running backs, including reigning Bee player of the year Justin Rice, and have rushed for 4,981 yards, the fourth-best total in the state.

Rice has rushed for a school-record 2,482 yards, becoming the first player in Stanislaus District history to post back-to-back 2,000-yard seasons.

The Fresno State-bound senior set that mark during last week’s 49-14 victory over Marin Catholic in the Northern California regional, a performance for the ages. He carried 35 times for 325 yards, also a school record.

Central Catholic also has junior Jared Rice (1,083 yards and 12 touchdowns), quarterback Hunter Petlansky (751/13) and fullbacks Montell Bland (388/12) and Kekupa’a Freehauf (145/4).

San Marino punches back with one of the most potent passing attacks in the nation.

Quarterback Carson Glazier has thrown for 4,119 yards and 47 touchdowns, though his status for Saturday’s game is still unknown. Glazier left last week’s regional late in the first half with concussion-like symptoms. As of Wednesday, he had not been cleared, according to the San Gabriel Valley Tribune.

Titans receiver J.P. Shohfi leads the nation with 2,267 yards, and ranks fourth nationally with 113 receptions. He has 29 touchdowns, scoring in a variety of ways. His highlight reel includes jet sweeps, jump balls and zigzagging runs covering the length of the field.

On those terms alone, Saturday’s state final promises to be an intense battle of wills. It is the first meeting of 15-0 teams since the bowl system was implemented in 2006, but it won’t be the first to be played under threatening skies.

The forecast calls for rain throughout the Sacramento region Friday, continuing through the night and into Saturday morning, but the rain is predicted to stop and the sun set to peek out of the clouds around 1 p.m., three hours before kickoff.

Escalon coach Mark Loureiro knows all about wet and wild state championships.

In 2010, his Cougars captured the program’s only state championship in a torrential downpour, decimating Madison of San Diego 30-14.

“We played a team from Southern California that had always played on turf, always played in beautiful sunshine,” Loureiro said. “All of a sudden they’re playing on a grass field that had been rained on for two days, and it’s pouring during the game.

“I felt it gave us a huge advantage. We had already played in the rain three or four times that season. Plus, we’re a running team. The good thing about the wing-T is that it controls the ball and the clock, and it’s a good bad-weather offense.”

Three days of rain turned the natural surface at The Home Depot Center in Carson, then the site of the CIF state bowls, into a swamp.

Loureiro said Escalon felt at home playing in a puddle, while Madison, a spread team that operated out of the shotgun, struggled to adjust.

“They had a hard time with the snaps out of shotgun and fumbled a couple of times. It threw them out of their game plan,” Loureiro said. “Everybody has to be good to get to this point, the way I see it. They were a good football team, but they were out of sorts.”

Loureiro said the forecast shouldn’t affect Saturday’s odds. In his mind, Central Catholic, the three-time Division IV state champion, will reign supreme, whether the skies open up or not.

“Central has a nice advantage going in ahead of time, but when you put the weather factor into it, it gives Central a major lift,” Loureiro said.

This story was originally published December 17, 2015 at 4:45 PM with the headline "History suggests Central Catholic will reign amid the rain."