St. John Bosco advances to the Southern Section Division 1 final with a one-point win over Corona Centennial, which falls short on a late two-point conversion try.
A football playoff game for the ages Friday night between two of Southern California’s titan programs, St. John Bosco and Corona Centennial, came down to one final play with eight seconds left.
The Huskies trailed 43-42 after a one-yard touchdown run by Cornell Hatcher Jr. and went for the win by trying a two-point conversion. St. John Bosco coach Jason Negro called a timeout and sent a clear message to his players.
“We brought the kitchen sink,” he said.
Quarterback Husan Longstreet faked a handoff to Hatcher, briefly slipped while going to his right and linebacker Jordan Lockhart, with help from Dutch Horisk, brought Longstreet to the turf. It was the crushing blow that delivered victory to the Braves (11-1) in the Southern Section Division 1 semifinals and sends them to next Friday’s championship game against Mater Dei at the Coliseum.
“I’m getting too old for this,” Negro said of a game that featured six touchdown passes from St. John Bosco’s Caleb Sanchez and five touchdown runs along with 221 yards rushing on an astounding 45 carries for Centennial’s Hatcher.
“It was 50-50 whether we’d be able to stop them,” Negro said of the two-point conversion attempt.
Lockhart said he just followed directions.
“Do your job,” Lockhart said. “I had to keep the quarterback contained and I did that. Man, these are the games why I came to Bosco.
