MISSION VIEJO – The emotions after the game spoke volumes of how far the JSerra program had come this past season.
The Lions faithful walked out of Saddleback College stunned. Several coaches could be seen with their hands on their knees. And a number of players consoled their teammates on the long walk back to the locker room.
JSerra – a program that won its first-ever playoff game just a week ago – fully expected to be playing into the month of December for a CIF championship.
But Orange County’s top-ranked team was simply outplayed and out-executed by a more physical Bishop Amat of La Puente squad Friday night.
Despite an 11-catch, 175-yard performance from wide receiver Sam Philippi, JSerra saw its best season in school history end in a 24-17 loss to Bishop Amat in the second round of the Pac-5 Division playoffs.
The Lancers (9-3) will travel to play Centennial of Corona in next week’s semifinals. The Huskies ousted Mater Dei from the postseason on Friday night with a 27-24 win.
“I thought we made a lot of mistakes,” Lions coach Jim Hartigan said. “Obviously they came to play which we knew they would. We missed some opportunities to get the ball in the end zone there later in the game, which potentially could’ve made it a tie ball game.”
Third-year starting quarterback Nick Robinson finished his JSerra career with a 226-yard passing performance, completing 16 of 24 passes with one touchdown and one interception.
Robinson and the offense put together three long drives in the opening half, advancing the ball into the Amat red zone on all three occasions. The Lions only scored 10 points on those three trips, and held 10-3 lead with one minute to play in the first half.
The Lancers stormed 80 yards on seven plays to close out the first half, tying the game at 10-10 on a 12-yard TD pass from Ryder Ruiz with eight seconds left.
“The drive before half was really critical for us,” Amat coach Steve Hagerty said. “I really feel that put us in a pretty confident mode coming out in the second half.”
Bishop Amat carried the momentum into the third quarter, scoring on a 12-play, 80 yard drive to open the second half. The Lancers later picked off Robinson, converting that into another touchdown on a 1-yard plunge by Torreahno Sweet.
“It’s been a great season,” Hartigan said. “We got to learn from this. Obviously when you get in the Pac-5 playoffs, we were fortunate enough to get a good draw. We played well last week. When you get to the second round, you can’t make mistakes.”
Contact the writer: kconnolly@ocregister.com