Honor Fa’alave-Johnson shines as Cathedral Catholic upsets top-seeded Mission Hills

SAN MARCOS — One play after having a late fourth-quarter touchdown called back, Honor Fa’alave-Johnson worked his magic — again.

With 50 seconds to play, the Cathedral Catholic High School junior running back took a handoff, broke left, followed a block and sprinted 43 yards for a touchdown.

That score gave the Dons a 42-35 win over Mission Hills in an Open Division semifinal.

It was his fifth touchdown run of the game with scores of 47, 17, 14, 57 and 43 yards. He finished the game with 18 carries for 255 yards.

“If that doesn’t solidify him as the best player in the county, I don’t know what will,” said Cathedral Catholic coach Sean Doyle.

“They were keying on him every play, so we moved him outside to open things up a little. But when we needed him most, we had to give him the ball.”

The No. 4-seeded Dons improve to 9-2 and play Carlsbad for the Open Division championship on Nov. 25 at Southwestern College.

Mission Hills, the No. 1 seed, finishes the season 9-2.

Fa’alave-Johnson scored twice in the first half and had 11 carries for 121 yards at the break.

In the second half, he scored three times and had 134 yards on seven carries.

“Mission Hills was tough, a lot tougher than I thought,” said Fa’alave-Johnson, who also plays defense. “This was everything an Open Division semifinal game should be. I got great blocking tonight. The offensive line was phenomenal.”

Asked about the last TD run, Fa’alave-Johnson said: “I got the ball, got a good block from my tackle, saw a gap and took off.”

On Fa’alave-Johnson, Mission Hills coach DJ Zapata said: “He’s uber-talented. You know how well coached we are, but he sees a sliver in a gap and he’s gone. That’s tough to swallow. I feel sorry for our kids but he’s a really talented player.”

The game, however, wasn’t over.

Mission Hills had 39 seconds to tie or win the game.

Taking over at the 20-yard line, Grizzlies quarterback Troy Huhn completed passes for 10 and 13 yards and had a 3-yard run that could have broken for big yards had not Parker Gibbons stopped him.

With the ball on the Dons’ 38, Huhn’s pass was intercepted by Kevin Clark, his second interception of the game.

“The coaches prepare us for all situations, especially two-minute drills, late game stuff,” Clark said.

Cathedral Catholic took advantage of a Clark fumble recovery on Mission Hills” first play from scrimmage, scoring on a 47-yard Fa’alave-Johnson run on his first carry.

Mission Hills answered with a nine-play, 60-yard drive, scoring on a 7 yard Patrick Fleming.

Fa’alave-Johnson scored his second TD of the half on the Dons’ next series, going in from 19 yards out.

Again, Mission Hills answered when Huhn finished a 75-yard drive with a 2-yard TD run.

After a Cathedral Catholic punt, Mission Hills went 79 yards on six plays with Huhn connecting on a 50-yard TD pass to Josh Gonzalez to go ahead 21-14.

The Dons answered with Brady Palmer hitting a wide-open Isaac Cook with a 67-yard TD pass.

Mission Hills overcame a holding penalty and a sack to score with 25 seconds to play in the half with Huhn hitting Ryan Mackenzie with a 19-yard scoring strike.

Brady Palmer completed 9 of 12 passes for 117 yards for Cathedral Catholic.

Huhn finished his career at Mission Hills by completing 23 of 31 passes for 371 yards, but had two passes intercepted.

Gonzalez caught 10 passes for 189 yards and a pair of scores.

“I think the abruptness is the thing that always gets me,” Zapata said of the season-ending loss. “All of the work we’ve put in since January comes to an abrupt end. It’s hard to put those emotions into words.

“Huhn played the way he’s played all year. We got in a situation where we got behind and he made the plays we needed. We wouldn’t be 9-1 and the number one seed without him.”

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Cathedral Catholic 42, Mission Hills 35

Cathedral Catholic 14    7   7   14  – 42

Mission Hills  7   21   0  7 – 35

CC – Fa’alave-Johnson 47 run  (Bergman kick)

MH – Fleming 4 run (Baker kick)

CC – Fa’alave-Johnson 17 run  (Bergman kick)

MH – Huhn 2 run (Baker kick)

MH – Gonzalez 50 pass from Huhn (Baker kick)

CC  – Cook 67 pass from Palmer (Bergman kick)

MH – Mackenzie 19 pass from Huhn (Baker kick)

CC – Fa’alave-Johnson 14 run  (Bergman kick)

MH – Gonzalez 16 pass from Huhn (Baker kick)

CC – Fa’alave-Johnson 57 run  (Bergman kick)

CC – Fa’alave-Johnson 43 run  (Bergman kick)