Three O.C. champions, but two teams left to wonder

Tesoro had stomped on Long Beach Poly, lifted its foot and saw Poly was still squiggling, still alive in the fourth quarter.

Then Poly grabbed that foot, and flipped Tesoro on its head.

It was hard to put Long Beach Poly away, in these Pac-5 playoffs. Poly came back to beat Bishop Amat and Lakewood, and just got by Esperanza. The Jackrabbits trailed by 10 points in the fourth quarter before taking a 20-17 victory and the CIF-Southern Section Pac-5 Division championship for the second year in a row.

This was one of those games that the losing coach plays over and over in his mind.

Tesoro coach Brian Barnes will hit the mental rewind button a lot over the next few days.

What if Tesoro had gotten to Long Beach Poly quarterback Morgan Fennell, just a half-second sooner so that he would not have been able to throw that touchdown pass to Damon Smith in the fourth quarter?

What if Trevor Weis could have slowed down Melvin Richardson for just a half-second longer, so teammates could have gotten there and prevented Richardson from scoring on his 61-yard touchdown run that provided the winning points?

What if this had happened or that had happened.

What happened was Tesoro finished 13-1. It was a great season, no matter the outcome at Angel Stadium on Saturday night.

The Titans went 5-0 in the South Coast League, for the second year in a row, and beat Mater Dei and Orange Lutheran in the playoffs. In its 42-14 victory over Orange Lutheran, Tesoro played better than any other team played in Orange County this year.

Three county teams did win CIF championships.

La Habra beat Tustin, 26-14, in the Southwest Division final earlier Saturday at Angel Stadium.

Laguna Hills beat Mayfair of Lakewood, 28-21, to win the Southern Division championship.

And St. Margaret’s beat Twentynine Palms, 17-3, to win the East Valley Division championship.

Only one county team has a chance to keep playing - St. Margaret’s. The announcement of which teams will play in the CIF State Championship Bowl Games will come today. (UPDATE: Read whether St. Margaret's will go to the state bowl game.)

St. Margaret’s seems like the likely choice to represent Southern California in the Small Schools Division game.

Teams have to win a section championship to be eligible for consideration for the bowl games. La Habra and Laguna Hills were not high enough in the bowl games divisional rankings to be contenders.

La Habra showed how important offensive versatility is to winning a CIF championship. They had 107 yards passing and 277 rushing, while Tustin had 291 rushing and minus-2 passing. Tustin had more players going both ways, playing offense and defense, and perhaps got worn down in the second half in which La Habra outscored Tustin, 12-0.

But just getting to a CIF championship game is quite an accomplishment, and is something to celebrate.

Somebody who has earned the right to celebrate is Poly coach Raul Lara. He is the target of so much criticism on Internet message boards, but he keeps coaching Poly to victories in close games and in comeback games. Good teams win close games, and good coaches teach their players how to hang in there and win close games.

Poly probably will play De La Salle of Concord in the Open Division game of the CIF State Championships. It would be their third meeting; Long Beach Poly won the first two games against De La Salle, at Cal and at Veterans Stadium in Long Beach.

Tesoro almost got to that Open Division game, but fell just a few points short. The players and Coach Myron Miller of the Tustin football team can relate.

It might take a while, but Barnes and Miller one day will be able to put aside the “what ifs,” and stop and say, “You know, that was a great year.”

It was.

Contact the writer: sfryer@ocregister.com