SANTA ANA – Four lead changes, more than 700 yards of total offense and 78 combined points. That’s the type of night it was Friday at Segerstrom High.
In a matchup that saw no shortage of twists and turns, Segerstrom outlasted Calvary Murrieta, 42-36, in a CIF-Southern Section Division 12 second-round game.
The Jaguars (11-1) advanced to the CIF-SS semifinals for the first time. Next week they will face Arroyo, which defeated Schurr (Downey) Friday night, 42-28.
“The kids fought so hard tonight against a very good team. I’m so proud of them,” Jaguars coach Joe Tagaloa said.
Senior running back Denilson Santamaria, who had been nursing a knee injury for three weeks, provided the winning score with a 27-yard touchdown run with 3:24 to play. But the extra point sailed wide right, leaving the game in jeopardy against a Warriors offense that was averaging more than 38 points per game.
But the Jaguars’ defense came up big, tackling Calvary Murrieta quarterback Adam Schwab 3 yards short on a fourth-and-10 inside its own 40.
Segerstrom then put the game on ice when Julian Vaglienty broke two tackles for a 9-yard gain on third-and-8 with less than two minutes left and the Warriors (9-3) without a timeout. Quarterback Marcos Avalos kneeled down on three consecutive plays as the Jaguars ran out the clock.
Led by offensive linemen Gabriel Mota, Paul Mora, Derrick Loang, Andrew Magana and Kevin Cabada, the Jaguars amasssed 418 total yards – 402 on the ground. JC Caravez led the Segerstrom ground attack with 140 yards on 16 carries, followed by Vaglienty (126 yards) and Santamaria (89 yards).
Caravez and Santamaria each had two touchdowns.
Calvary Murrieta finished with 294 total yards – 144 on the ground from senior running back Micah Roth, who also had three touchdowns.
Contact the writer: magarcia@scng.com