Central Union runs away from University City in playoff win

EL CENTRO — Playing on a wet grass field on a rainy Friday night in the Imperial Valley, Central Union High School outlasted the visiting University City by a score of 44-42 in a Division 3 semifinals game Friday night at Cal Jones Field.

The teams traded touchdowns throughout the contest, with each team punting only one time.

Despite all the offense, a defensive play by Central senior defensive back CJ Acosta, who had muffed a kickoff moments prior that gave the Centurions one last shot at winning the game, sealed the victory. He broke up a pass in the end zone.

“I messed up on the onside kick when I didn’t scoop it up, so I wanted to make up for that,” Acosta said. “I saw the ball was coming to my area and I tried to knock it down, and I fell to the ground, and I saw it hit the ground too, and I heard the crowd erupt.”

University City deferred the opening kick-off, Central began a 66-yard touchdown drive that included the Spartans abandoning shotgun formation on the third play of the drive for what would become their scoring machine, the Wildcat formation.

Running behind the Wildcat was Central senior Matthew Lizaola, who scored the Spartans’ first touchdown on a fourth-down from the 6-yard line, which he set up with a 31-yard run the previous play.

The touchdown gave Central a 7-0 lead, and from about the nine-minute mark of the first quarter, the two teams’ offenses would dominate the game.

“That touchdown gave us the momentum early in the game,” Central coach David Pena said. “We told the team going into the game that we needed to run the ball to win, and they embraced that.”

Embrace the Spartans did, as Lizaola ran for touchdowns of 11 and four yards to stake Central to a 20-13 halftime lead. Lizaola ran for 263 yards, while the Wildcat formation would account for six touchdowns and three two-point conversions.

“Our line’s blocking was amazing and that allowed me to get a lot of yards,” said Lizaola, who also had second-half touchdown runs of 11 and three yards. “Once I get to the second level it’s my job to win those situations and I was running hard.”

Lizaola also played every defensive down in the game at linebacker and came away with respect for the Uni City offense.

“They are a well-rounded team, and it was tough to try to stop them,” Lizaola said.

Going both ways eventually wore Lizaola down and left the game for a play, but Central merely turned to their other running back, junior Fidel Camarena, Jr., who ran 26 yards for a touchdown.

— TOM RONCO

University City was lead by senior quarterback Quentyn DeMara who passed for 184 yards and two touchdowns, junior running back Deshaun Hille who had 126 yards and two touchdowns, and freshman DJ Ferguson who had a touchdown reception and a 90-yard kick-off return for another score.

This Saturday afternoon, the CIF-SDS’s Division III top-ranked Spartans (9-3, 2-2 Imperial Valley League) will now face the D-III upset-minded sixth-seeded Christian High Patriots (6-7, 1-4 Eastern League), who defeated second-seeded Army-Navy 20-17 in Friday night’s other semi-final game.

The CIF D-III title game is scheduled for Southwestern College at 3:30 p.m.