Paloma Valley's football season ends with 42-28 loss
Stephen Gallegos runs past the defense to pick up yardage for Paloma Valley High. (Photo by Rick Rowell) By Paige Mendez, Correspondent Th...
By Paige Mendez, Correspondent
The Paloma Valley Wildcats finished up their 2022 season in the second round of the CIF-SS playoffs Friday night. An emotional fourth quarter marked by penalties and incomplete passes sent the Wildcats into the offseason with a 42-28 loss to the Golden Valley Grizzlies.
Junior quarterback Brady Nelson, who threw for 93 yards and two touchdowns on the night, met quite the obstacle in the Golden Valley defense. He threw only four completed passes in the fourth quarter with two sacks and two interceptions.
In contrast to the rough ending, the offense started out strong. Just 30 seconds into the game, Paloma was on the board with a touchdown from Stephen Gallegos. He ran it in from the 17-yard line in just the second play of the game after Javon Major recovered a Golden Valley fumble on the kickoff return.
But the Grizzlies had a quick answer in a seven-play drive that finished with a 31-yard touchdown reception from Ajani Smith.
The back-and-forth continued with Paloma’s next score coming in just three minutes in KJ Misini’s 28-yard touchdown reception. Both teams racked up penalties as well as points early in the game. By the end of the first quarter, each team had three penalties to their name.
The second quarter resembled the first in that there were six more flags split evenly between both teams. But the Grizzlies were the only ones who saw the end zone in the quarter, and they saw it twice -- making the halftime score 21-14 for Golden Valley.
The Wildcats came out quick again with a touchdown on the board within the first 30 seconds of the third quarter with another run from Gallegos of 31 yards to tie the game at 21.
With a forced punt on the next drive, the Paloma defense put their team in position to take back the lead, but the Wildcats were forced to punt, as well, in just five plays. The Grizzlies capitalized on their next opportunity and took the lead with a few strategic runs from running back Isaiah Orozco and a final push from Jamison Torres to put his team ahead at 27-21, a lead they would keep for the rest of the game.
Golden Valley saw two more touchdowns from Orozco and Smith, while the Wildcats put up one more with just under two minutes to go. That touchdown came from a Nelson-Misini connection for 26 yards.
But it was just a little too late for Paloma to get back in the game. The Grizzlies punted one more time on their next possession, but didn’t leave quite enough time for the Wildcats to catch up.
After a 2-7 season last year, coach Zach Dilley said this season is one he will always be proud of. The Wildcats finished with a 9-3 record.
“The only people that believed in this team were the coaches and kids,” Dilley said. “They should be proud of everything they did.”
That “everything” included the first Menifee Bowl championship in school history, the first undisputed league title in 20 years, and the first time the team has gone this far in the playoffs in five years.
“I know they wanted to take it all the way, but they came up short tonight,” said Dilley. “But they flipped this program around from last year and they should just be proud of that.”
As a graduating senior, Misini said he hopes to be remembered for this season of hard work and that the other seniors keep winning in life.
“We shut down a lot of haters who were doubting us, I hope Paloma remembers what we [seniors] did for this school,” said Misini. “I hope that after high school my other seniors succeed in life and do what they want to do.”
He is joined by 29 other seniors graduating from the program this year.
Javon Major recovers a fumbled kickoff return, setting up a Paloma Valley touchdown. (Photo by Rick Rowell)
Gavin Ratnayakage (7) breaks up a Golden Valley pass at the goal line. (Photo by Rick Rowell)
