Paloma's Defense Works Hard, but King Has Too Much, 24-14

Coach Bert Esposito talks to his players during a timeout in Paloma Valley's game against ML King Saturday night.

By Daniel Millhouse

In the third game of the Wounded Warrior Classic’s tripleheader of football at Ramona High School Saturday night, Paloma Valley High School fought hard but succumbed to King High School, 24-14.

In a game that started nearly an hour late, time of possession was the key. At halftime, King had held onto the ball for 17:34 compared to Paloma Valley’s 6:26. King worked the game in its favor by wearing down the Wildcats’ defense with a barrage of a rushing attack.

"The defense was just on the field too long," Coach Bert Esposito said after the game.

Even with the lopsided time of possession, the Wolves of King High School led the game only 10-6 going into halftime. The only score of the first quarter came after Paloma Valley held King with a red zone stop, forcing the Wolves’ senior kicker Aiden McCarley to kick a 26-yard field to give King the lead, 3-0.

After a fumble near the end of the first quarter by Paloma Valley wide receiver David Hamilton, the Wolves capitalized on the possession. Junior running back Chance Sanderson ran up the middle for a 2-yard touchdown to put King up 10-0 early in the second quarter.

The unproductive offense of Paloma Valley was bailed out by the defense in the second quarter. The Wildcats’ defense managed to intercept the ball twice, the first time by junior linebacker Robert Solis and the second time by senior defensive back Jacob Diaz (left) in another red zone stop.

Diaz’s interception woke up the Wildcats’ offense up a bit. With the ball on the Wolves' 44-yard line, junior quarterback Pohaku Kaheaku-Paiva scrambled out of the pocket, avoiding being sacked twice, and tossed the ball to junior running back DeMarco Prewitt, standing only several yards away. Prewitt turned up the field and turned on the jets, finally being tackled at the 9-yard line for a 35-yard gain.

On the very next play, Kaheaku-Paiva threw the ball to Hamilton before he stepped out of the side of the end zone, resulting in a 9-yard touchdown with one minute left in the half. Unfortunately for the Wildcats, the referees ruled senior kicker Derek Davis' point-after attempt wide left, leaving the score 10-6 going into halftime.

King struck first in the third quarter in the first three minutes, after senior running back Devin Moeller took the ball up the middle on a draw play, resulting in a 35-yard touchdown rush that put the Wolves up 17-6.

On the next possession, the Wildcats moved the ball well, making it all the way to the red zone within only two minutes. Fresh off his touchdown run, Moeller intercepted Kaheaku-Paiva’s pass, giving the Wolves the ball on the 5-yard line and preventing Paloma Valley from scoring for the rest of the third quarter.

King proceeded to milk the clock with a powerful rushing attack that resulted in 275 yards of overall rushing for the Wolves by the end of the game. With just under eight minutes left in the fourth quarter, King’s Moeller ran for his second touchdown with a nearly untouched run of 42 yards, putting up the Wolves 24-6.

Paloma Valley tried to close the gap on its next possession but was stopped when junior defensive back Brett Norris of the Wolves intercepted the pass of Kaheaku-Paiva (right) again in the red zone, at the 8-yard line with three minutes left in the game.

With a quick defensive stop, the Wildcats were able to regain possession and score with 20 seconds left in the game on a 34-yard touchdown pass by Kaheaku-Paiva to senior running back Elliott Smith. After a successful two-point conversion pass from Kaheaku-Paiva to Hamilton, the Wildcats closed the gap to the final margin of 24-14.

Even though the Paloma Valley defense allowed 24 points on 380 yards of total offense by King, the Wildcats still put up a great effort. They were stuck on the field for 33 of the 48 minutes of the game.

"My guys stuck in there," Esposito said after the game. "The effort defensively for the last three weeks has been outstanding. I give them a B minus to a B," when rating the play of his defense.

The offense didn't fare so well.

"I give my offense a D to D plus," Esposito said when he talked about his offense. "We can’t run the ball when we want to and we’re dropping the balls on easy plays. I don’t think since I’ve been at Paloma that we’ve dropped that many balls in a game. It’s just that we’re just out of sync."

Paloma Valley (1-2) travels to Orange County next week to face the undefeated Tillers of Tustin High School (3-0).

Paloma Valley's defensive line had its work cut out against the King offense Saturday night.