Paloma Valley's Season Ends in 49-21 Loss to Redlands

Paloma Valley High School football players take a knee for their final postgame meeting of the season. Menifee 24/7 photos: Daniel Millhouse

By Daniel Millhouse

The Paloma Valley Wildcats came out energetic, full of enthusiasm, and confident for their CIF Southern Section playoff opener against Redlands Friday night. Unfortunately, it wasn’t enough as the Wildcats were hurt by penalties and turnovers in the second half to lose, 49-21.

Paloma Valley (7-4) came out firing, with sophomore quarterback Chance Nolan hitting senior receivers Cameron Whatley and Corez English with passes to advance the ball downfield. This led to the Wildcats scoring on their first drive, which lasted less than three minutes when Nolan hit Whatley for a 9-yard touchdown pass to put his team up 7-0.

This did not scare off the Terriers of Redlands (8-3). The Terriers put the ball on the ground to establish a physical run game and also scored on their first possession when Tony Sandifer scored a touchdown on a 1-yard run to tie up the score. This would be the first of his three touchdowns in the game.

Redlands then turned around and stopped Paloma Valley on its next possession, but the Wildcats lucked out when the Terriers botched the punt return and junior Corey Maddox recovered the ball on the Paloma Valley 44-yard line.

With a second chance, Paloma Valley took to the ground on the shoulders of seniors Khayrii Joyner and Demarco Prewitt. With third down and inches from the goal line, Prewitt took the ball in for a touchdown to put his team up 14-7.

Redlands quarterback Joey Burrola then took to the air, hitting his receivers in a quick and short passing game during the next Redlands possession. With 8:21 left in the second quarter, Sandifer took the ball into the end zone on a 4-yard touchdown run for his second of three touchdowns in the game (left).

Both defenses held steady throughout the rest of the first half, leaving the score at 14-14 going into halftime.

In the second half, the Terriers came out with a fire in their belly. Burrola led his team to score three unanswered touchdowns in the third quarter, two by air, and one by ground. After being sacked by senior defensive lineman Robert Halverson, Burrola hit tight end Austin Williams for a 39-yard touchdown pass, followed by a 6-yard touchdown pass to receiver Brandon Morris five minutes later.

Burrola then scored himself on a quarterback keeper from 1 yard out after Paloma Valley turned the ball over for the second time in the quarter on a backward pass by Nolan to Prewitt that was bobbled and picked up by Joey’s little brother, sophomore defensive lineman Zachary. This gave the Terriers a 35-14 lead and stunned the Paloma Valley fans.

"Just too many mistakes," said Paloma Valley coach Bert Esposito after the game when asked about the play of his team in the second half. "Big crucial mistakes. They’re a solid football team. Really once the mistake occurred, the dam broke."

The Terriers weren’t done. Burrola hit Morris again for a 44-yard touchdown pass halfway through the fourth quarter, putting his team up 42-14.

Not known for giving up, the Wildcats were determined to cut down the Redlands lead and make it a game again. In a drive that lasted just over a minute, they cut the Terriers' lead in half when junior running back Corey Maddox scored on a 1-yard run to put the score at 42-21.

Unfortunately for the Wildcats, the Terriers weren’t going to rest on a 21-point lead. After recovering the onside kick by senior Kyle Shernicoff, they took the good field position and drove it downfield. With the ball on the 1-yard line, Sandifer scored his third touchdown of the night, putting the nail in the coffin with a score of 49-21 with 1:55 left in the game.

"It’s been a great year," said Prewitt, shown here on a run during the game. "All four years have been amazing. I think people should be scared of us next year because we've got a lot of young guys. They’re going to do their thing."

After the game, when asked if he had a piece of advice for next year’s team, senior Connor Gillette had this to say:

"Everyone has regrets and wants to go back and change it," he said. "I just want to tell them to don’t have that regret. Do everything in your power to make your team the best team out there."

Notable offensive performances by Paloma Valley included Prewitt’s 94 yards rushing on 22 attempts along with a touchdown run, Corez English’s 6 receptions for 102 yards receiving, and Whatley’s 61 yards receiving on 4 catches, including 1 touchdown.

Ultimately on the defensive side of the ball, Paloma Valley was once again led by sophomores Stephen Bradshaw with 11 tackles and Phil Mills with 9 tackles. Senior linebacker Andrew Ramos also had 9 tackles, while fellow senior Halverson had 1 sack and 5 tackles. Junior lineman Maleek Baranauskas also contributed with 1 sack.

Redlands was led by Burrola, who completed 16 passes on 24 attempts for 185 yards, 3 touchdown passes, and 1 touchdown run. Sandifer rushed the ball 17 times for 102 yards and 3 touchdown runs. Morris scored twice on 6 receptions for 147 yards and Williams scored once on 5 receptions for 60 yards.

Redlands will continue to the second round of the playoffs to face Citrus Hill (9-2) of Perris.

After the game, Joyner said summed up his feelings about the season.

"Do not take football for granted because you never know when it could be your last game," he said. "Every play you have to go out there like it’s your last play, like it’s your last time playing football. It’s a blessing to play this sport. When you go out there, you should always want to win for your teammates."

When asked about his seniors and what words he wanted to leave them with, Esposito had praise for his players.

"They were a great group," he said. "I love them dearly. It was fun watching them grow up from their freshman year to now and they’ll always be a Wildcat. They’ll always be a part of the Wildcat family and I wish them well in their future endeavors."