VALENCIA — The Palos Verdes football team fought back from a 20-point first-half deficit to defeat Valencia 42-34 in the first round of the CIF-SS Division 3 Playoffs. Ryan Rakowski had three touchdown passes and the Sea Kings forced four second-half fumbles to clinch the victory and now move on to take on Dana Hills next week at home in the second round.
“First of all, that’s a very good team in Valencia, but I’m proud of our guys for continuing to fight,” Palos Verdes coach Guy Gardner said. “Our guys just kept it one play at a time and this was definitely a team win.”
Valencia was able to jump out to a 27-7 first-half lead, thanks in large part to quarterback Brady Bretthauer and running back and Washington commit Brian Bonner. Bretthauer had four touchdowns in the first half, with two of his touchdown passes going to Bonner from 50 and 52 yards out.
Palos Verdes’ first score of the game came on a fourth-and-15 play, when backup quarterback Giorgio Di Mascio found Jalen Flowers on a 29-yard touchdown pass at the end of the first quarter to cut the Valencia lead to 14-7. Di Mascio was in the game because Rakowski’s helmet fell off on the play before.
Palos Verdes was able to make the score 27-14 heading into halftime when Rakowski found Flowers for an 18-yard touchdown pass at the end of the half. Valencia received the ball to start the second half, but on their first play of the half, Bretthauer fumbled the ball and Owen Wishner recovered it for Palos Verdes at the Valencia 20-yard line.
Five plays after the Wishner fumble recovery, Rakowski found Flowers for his third and final touchdown reception of the night. Flowers finished the game with four catches for 66 yards and the three scores.
“We knew we could come back; it all starts with my line blocking and my quarterback.” Flowers said.
At the end of the third quarter, Dabe Nwude forced and recovered a fumble for Palos Verdes to give them the ball back at the Valencia 18. On the play after the Nwude forced fumble, Dominik Hernando scored on an 18-yard touchdown run to give Palos Verdes a 28-27 lead.
On the final play of the third quarter, Valencia scored their final touchdown of the game when Bretthauer found Anthony Vernon on a 65-yard pass to give the Vikings a 34-28 lead. Bretthauer finished the game with 413 all-purpose yards with five touchdowns and two lost fumbles.
On the ensuing Sea King drive, Rakowski found Reese McCarthy II on a 32-yard touchdown pass to give Palos Verdes a 35-34 lead early in the fourth quarter. The catch was McCarthy II’s first touchdown of the season and also his fourth reception all season.
“This win is what Sea King football’s all about, just battling every play,” Rakowski said. “Our defense played a heck of a game in the second half and we started off slow on offense but were able to pick it up.”
Valencia was forced to punt on the drive after the McCarthy II score. On the Valencia punt, Wishner stripped the Valencia punter after he struggled to catch the snap and Weston Reis recovered the fumble and ran it from ten yards out to extend the Palos Verdes lead to 42-34.
On the drive following the Reis score, Reis was able to recover another Valencia fumble to give Palos Verdes the ball back at the Valencia 37. Palos Verdes did not score again following the second Reis fumble recovery, but punter Ryan Pearce was able to pin Valencia back at their own 2-yard line for their final possession of the game.
“I can’t really take all the credit, I was just in the right places at the right time,” Reis said. “We just all really rallied together, and after halftime, we flipped a switch.”
On Valencia’s final possession, Bretthauer and Bonner were able to get Valencia to near midfield, but the Vikings were not able to tie the game as Bretthauer got tripped up on a fourth-and-7 play with two minutes left in the game. The loss for Valencia is now their fourth straight first-round playoff loss after winning the Division 5 championship in 2021.
Rakowski finished the game 15 of 19 for 132 yards and ran the ball 18 times for 90 yards with three touchdown passes. Bonner had five catches for 121 yards and ran the ball eight times for 91 yards with two touchdown receptions.
“I’m just so proud of every one of them,” Valencia coach Larry Muir said. “It’s been a special group and I just hurt deeply for all the seniors and everyone who made a commitment to this.”