Oct 25, 2013 4 min read

CALIFORNIA – California High School’s football team not only had to win its WPIAL Black Hills Conference game against Brentwood to have a chance at a playoff berth, but the Trojans had to defeat the Spartans by at least 10 points and have Chartiers-Houston lose to Fort Cherry.

With that in mind, the Trojans pulled out all the stops.

At least on the opening kickoff.

Needing to score and score a bunch, the Trojans surprised Brentwood with an onside kick to begin the game. But that was the most positive thing to happen for the Trojans as they saw their playoff hopes dashed with a 42-18 home loss.

“We figured we would be aggressive,” said California (4-5, 4-5) head coach Bo Teets. “We haven’t been able to kick the ball deep all year, and I was willing to sacrifice the 10 yards of field position to get the ball.”

Austin Hunter recovered his own kick, but the ensuing series was a disaster for the Trojans.

Running back Lester McGriff lost two yards on California’s first play from scrimmage. After a false start penalty set the Trojans back five more yards, McGriff was dropped for a 10-yard loss.

That was the story of Cal’s night.

The Trojans managed just one first down in the first half and gained only 25 yards on 19 plays from scrimmage.

“They were aggressive and brought a lot of heat,” said Teets. “We knew they would be that way, and I like that type of team because I think we can matchup against that style. We tried to make adjustments and nothing worked. They just shut us down in the first half.”

California punted three times, turned the ball over on downs twice, threw an interception and fumbled a kickoff in the first half, heading to the locker room down 35-0.

Meanwhile, the Spartans chewed up the California defense, gaining 256 yards on 29 first half plays.

Brentwood (6-3, 6-4) struck right away when Ryan Shortley scord on a 2-yard run to give the Spartans the lead. The touchdown was set up by a 50-yard pass on third down from Connor McWilliams to Tyler Paranzino and a 19-yard run from running back Patrick Carr on consecutive plays.

Then, the Trojans reached into their bag of tricks again and hit a big play on a halfback pass when McGriff connected with KC Zajicek for a 40-yard gain. But that was the Trojans’ only first down of the half as they turned the ball over on downs when McGriff dropped a potential 31-yard touchdown pass.

After that it was all Spartans.

Paranzino hauled in a 57-yard touchdown pass from McWilliams to make it 14-0. McGriff fumbled the ensuing kickoff and two plays later Carr scored a 6-yard touchdown run to give Brentwood a pair of scores in 34 seconds and put the game out of reach.

McWilliams added a 1-yard touchdown run and a 12-yard touchdown pass to Bill Madeja to close out the half.

McGriff gave the Trojans a jolt of life when he returned the second half kickoff 90-yards for a touchdown, but the Spartans answered with a Dallas Bowie 5-yard touchdown run that followed a 49-yard pass to Parazino to make it a 42-6 game.

With the win, the Spartans claim the fourth and final playoff spot out of the Black Hills Conference.

“For us the playoffs started tonight,” said Brentwood head coach Kevin Kissel. “It was as simple as we win we get in, so we brought that type of aggressiveness on both sides of the ball.”

The Trojans added a fourth quarter score when Hunter hit Gavin Anderson with an 85-yard touchdown pass. However the big early hole ended up dooming the Trojans.

“We had a good season,” said Teets. “We lose our first three games, and if you look in the paper, you would think it was the same old California. But we competed and hung in there against some good teams.”