CIF-Central Section D2 championship: Lemoore wins 62-46 thriller over Central Valley Christian

Two things were clearly defeated Friday night at Central Valley Christian Friday night. 

The top-seeded Cavaliers were eliminated in the Central Section Division 2 championship by third-seed Lemoore. 

The other defeat was the notion that good defenses always beat good offenses. 

The Tigers racked up more points in one game than Central Valley Christian allowed on average in five games during the regular season in a wild 62-46 road win. 

The Cavaliers gave up 12 points per game while going 10-0, and though there were signs of chinks in the armor during the postseason — a 50-41 semifinal win over Hanford last week. That said, they certainly believed scoring 46 would be more than enough to win their seven section crown. 

Instead it was Lemoore which won its second (first since 2005) in a game that featured 16 touchdowns overall and 47 points alone in the third quarter. 

“The whole season has been this way, once we got rolling, we kept going,” Lemoore coach Rich Tuman said. “A lot of players on this team have been together since youth football. I love these guys and I couldn’t be prouder of a group of guys than I am with them.”

Lemoore quarterback Ty Chambers finished the game throwing for 295 yards and six touchdowns. His favorite target Kobe Green had four touchdowns overall (three receiving, one kick return). 

It offset a huge game from CVC junior running back Bryson Donelson who finished with 27 carries for 258 yards and three touchdowns, to go along with a 66-yard touchdown reception. 

Donelson ends the season with over 1400 yards and 18 rushing touchdowns in eight games.

CVC was without their star defensive end and Oregon commit, Jaeden Moore, who CVC announced before the game would not play due to an illness.

That definitely had an effect. 

The Cavaliers, who entered the game undefeated, end the season with a 12-1 overall record. Coach Mason Hughes said that the Tigers just were able to find some weaknesses in the Cavaliers defense in the second half.

“We ran into an offensive juggernaut tonight. So much speed on the Lemoore offense,” Hughes said. “They found some weaknesses in our defense, and they just attacked and exploited them the whole second half.”

Donelson showed why he is one of the best players in the Central Valley early in the game scoring touchdowns on a 66-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Max Bakker and then scored on a 63-yard touchdown run all in the first quarter. 

Kobe Green took the ensuing kickoff and returned it 72 yards for a touchdown that cut the Cavaliers lead to 14-7 with 5:36 left in the first quarter. But Donelson raced to the end zone for a 63-yard touchdown run on the first play of the ensuing drive for the Cavaliers to extend their lead to 21-7 with 5:10 left in the first quarter.

The Tigers cut the lead to 21-14 with 4:32 left when Chambers connected with Green on a 77-yard touchdown pass. Chambers ended the first half 2-for-3 for 86 yards and the touchdown.

CVC started the ensuing possession on their own 35-yard line with 4:23 left in the second quarter. After a short gain from Donelson on the first play, CVC’s quarterback Bakker was intercepted by Lemoore’s nose tackle Isaiah Morales at the 39-yard line on the next play. Morales returned it to CVC’s 13-yard line.

Lemoore converted on the turnover four plays later when Andrew Moench scored on a 1-yard touchdown run to tie the game at 21-21. That would be the halftime score.

“We have to eliminate the big plays from CVC and We got to get in a rhythm on offense.” Tuman said coming out from halftime.

Both teams came out in the third quarter clicking offensively. The teams combined to score 47 points in the third quarter, as Lemoore would take a 49-40 lead into the fourth quarter. 

Lemoore scored four touchdowns, while CVC scored three touchdowns.

Lemoore struck on the first offensively play of the second half when Chambers connected with Demel Turner on a 70-yard touchdown pass. CVC answered right back on the ensuing drive when Donelson scored his third touchdown of the game on a 39-yard touchdown run.

The Tigers retook the lead at 35-28 on a 12-yard touchdown pass from Chambers to Green with 5:34 left in the third quarter. Once again, the Cavaliers responded when Donelson capped a seven-play 73-yard drive with a 7-yard touchdown run that made it 35-34 after the extra point was blocked by Lemoore’s Gustavo Rea-Huizar.

Chambers connected with Preston Scott on a 60-yard TD pass to go up 42-34, but CVC answered 20 seconds later when Bakker found Brandt Munger on a 68-yard touchdown pass. 

CVC failed on an extra point and cut the Lemoore lead to 42-40 with 1:17 left in the third. 

Chambers struck once again late in the third quarter and connected with Turner for a second time on a 43-yard touchdown with 17 seconds left in the third quarter. They held a 49-40 lead entering the fourth quarter.

Turner ended the game with two catches for 113 yards and the two touchdowns. For Turner, winning the championship was the culmination of a journey that him and his teammates had been on since the beginning of the year.

“Man, words can’t even explain how I feel, just to do it with this group of guys and coaches it means a lot, we been working for this since January, so it feels great now that we finally are champions,” Turner said. “I love being on the field with our offense we got so many weapons and we really just feed off of each other, nobody out there is selfish about stats we just all want to win.”

After Lemoore finally forced a three-and-out, they took over at their own 22-yard line with 11:45 left in the game. They proceeded to drive the ball 78 yards in three minutes and scored when Chambers connected with Green on a 17-yard touchdown to extend their lead to 56-40 with 8:54 left in the game.

CVC cut the Lemoore lead to 56-46 after a touchdown run by Gambini and a failed two-point conversion. Lemoore then clinched it with a brilliant 80-yard drive that took more than five minutes off the clock, ending with a 5-yard touchdown run from Anthony Garcia with 2:14 left. 

“It means everything for real, most of us on this team have been playing with each other since youth football and all the coaches are connected to Lemoore in some way as well whether they had family here, coached here, or even played here,” Turner said. “So, for us to bring it home means everything for all of us.”