SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO — Kyle Donahue made a last-play, 23-yard field goal to give San Juan Hills a 28-27 win over Downey in the first round of the CIF-SS Division 2 playoffs Friday at San Juan Hills High.
Donahue has made 11 of 12 field goals this season for San Juan Hills (2-9). His only miss was a blocked field goal earlier in this game.
The game-winning kick was set up minutes earlier by an excellent special teams play by the Stallions.
Downey quarterback Oscar Rios ran for a go-ahead touchdown with 2:23 remaining in the game to make the score 27-25. Dean Kolasinski blocked the extra point for San Juan Hills to keep its deficit under three points.
San Juan Hills’ offense drove down inside the Downey 10-yard line and gave Donahue an opportunity with two seconds left in the game.
“It was on my mind,” Donahue said about having a potential game-winning field goal opportunity. “The team around me is great, putting me in 12 field goal spots. It feels amazing.”
“Once Dean blocked that extra point it made it a whole different ballgame,” San Juan Hills coach Rob Frith said. “We knew we just had to get past the 30-yard line to get into field goal range. Kyle is made for that moment. He’s been excellent all year long.”
Last week, it was announced that San Juan Hills had to forfeit seven of its eight wins due to an ineligible player participating in those games. The Stallions were awarded an at-large spot in the playoffs despite having a 1-9 record after the forfeits.
“Having a chance to continue our season breathed new life into us,” Frith said. “We had to close the doors, windows and drapes and say we’re just going to focus on ourselves. Ignore the social media, ignore the naysayers. We were given an opportunity and now the season starts over. Our kids did a really good job.”
San Juan Hills trailed 21-10 in the second half. Quarterback Timmy Herr completed 23 of 31 passes for 293 yards with three touchdowns. He threw two first half interceptions, but had 177 yards in the second half with two touchdowns and just three incompletions.
Ryan Matheson caught 10 passes for 125 yards with a touchdown. Luke Frith caught five passes for 96 yards.
Rios, an Arizona commit, missed the Vikings’ Week 10 game against Dominguez with an ankle injury. He left the game twice Friday with injuries but still threw for 164 yards with a touchdown and ran for 34 yards with a score.
“My hats off to him. He’s tough as nails,” Frith said of Rios. “He made some great throws and extended plays with his legs like he did all season. That’s a really good football team and it was anybody’s game. We just happened to have the ball last.”
San Juan Hills opened the game with a quick scoring drive that ended with a 7-yard touchdown pass from Herr to Ethan Falcinella.
Downey (9-2) responded with a 17-play, 80-yard scoring drive capped by a 1-yard touchdown run by Gavin Ingram to tie the game.
After an interception in the endzone by Jacob Trevizu, Downey went on a 4-play, 65-yard scoring drive. Rios threw a 17-yard touchdown pass to Ingram to give the Vikings a 14-7 lead. Trevizu had zero interceptions in the regular season but had two Friday.
Donahue made a 32-yard field goal as time expired in the first half to make the score 14-10.
Downey opened the second half with a 98-yard kick return for a touchdown by Damani Porras to extend the lead to 21-10. Porras, a junior who has offers from Arizona, UCLA and Utah among others, led Downey with 96 yards receiving and blocked a field goal.
Later in the third quarter, a long snap sailed over the head of Downey’s punter into the back of the end zone. The punter attempted to throw the ball away and an intentional grounding penalty was called which resulted in a safety.
Herr threw a touchdown pass to Matheson and a 46-yard touchdown pass to Frith to give the Stallions a 25-21 lead in the fourth.
Axel Maganda had a fumble recovery for San Juan Hills and guard Aaron Pluff recovered a fumble for San Juan Hills on the final drive of the game which saved the game.
San Juan Hills will play Los Alamitos in the quarterfinals next Friday in a road game. The Stallions reached the Division 2 quarterfinals last season and fell to Oaks Christian.
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