Football video: Servite wins state title with last-second FG
December 20th, 2009, 1:20 am · · posted by Jonathan Khamis
Servite defeated Rocklin, 33-30, to win its first CIF state bowl game on Saturday night at the Home Depot Center. Servite was up, 30-10, in the third quarter before the Thunder roared back to tie the score.
Nicholas Echeverry’s last-second FG claimed the title for Servite.
Servite had to get through the best of the best to get to this title game. The Friars survived three games that came down to the final moments. First came Long Beach Poly. Servite blocked an attempt at a tying field goal. Then came Mission Viejo, which decided to go for two and the win, but was unable to convert. Finally, with Saturday’s win, Servite capped off its season by winning state.
That doesn’t count defeating Mater Dei for the first time in over 20 years, becoming the first team to win the Trinity League outright (and go undefefeated nonetheless), and beating what I still think was the most talented football team all season in Edison.
Finally, congratulations to Servite for staying classy all year long. In a year that saw USC and UCLA throw chivalry out the window., Coach Troy Thomas did it the right way.
He took the foot off the gas against Crespi, because he didn’t want to embarass his former school. He pulled his young assistant coaches aside late against Mater Dei, when emotions rode high after some chippy play. He told his team not to point their figures, signaling they were number one, after defeating Edison.
It’s funny how professional and college coaches could learn from coaches in high school.
Highlights and interviews are just a click away! (Click here to read the game story.)
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Wow, so that’s how they got back into the game. I can’t believe #24 for Rocklin and then #47 maddoging Cody right after that. No wonder Servite retaliated. They took the game focus away from Servite. Rocklin only came back the second they did that. Servite lost focus for the last 3 1/2 minutes of the third(the hand thing). How could they even think about football after that. They may have thought that Rocklin would injure them again like that, so I can’t blame Servite for going into a self defense mode. Rocklin carried that momentum until the 8 1/2 minute mark(while Servite was obviously worried about being mamed). Don’t look at the score as a correct indication of how this game would have really turned out. I wonder how Cody’s hand is. Unbelievable! And it was clearly retaliation when Servite immediately committed a personal foul(protecting poor Cody obviously) and the face mask from Servite also happened soon after that. That was a loss of composure but who can blame them? Should the Fajardo family press charges for that BS? They won’t but do you get my point?
Great job, JK. I can’t believe you caught that dude stomping on Fajardo’s hand.
You also caught the facemask, which I think the refs missed on that play.
The officiating crew also missed Rocklin having 12-men on the field on a punt. I saw it from the press box.
Great game. Great season. Let the countdown begin to Spring Ball.
Yeah guys, Fajardo told me after the game, that they were clearly playing dirty. Rocklin’s players were holding down the legs of Servite’s players. The Friars tried to retaliate, but it ended up costing them in personal foul penalties. Nico Espinoza was especially upset, throwing everything not bolted down near the bench.
I’m so proud of you Servite!
You battled adversity and close calls all season long, all the while never losing faith or giving up!
It’s a great day to be a Friar!
CREDO!
This year Servite proved their motto “Anyone-Anytime-Anywhere” is not just words!!!! Great Job boys…even in the face of adversity, (I’v been to all the games this year, and Rocklin seemed to be the dirtiest, Its a shame that we saw what the officials didn’t) You stood strong and got the job done!!!! CREDO!
Looks like some posters on Rocklin’s Newspaper weren’t to thrilled with their players shenanigans either. http://www.placerherald.com