Washington Union wins Central Section's first CIF Bowl Championship

CARSON, Calif. - Washington Union (Fresno) football coach Jim Freitas kept looking around. Everywhere but the scoreboard.

"I looked at the the fans, the players, my coaching staff," he said. "It was all so surreal. I couldn't believe it was happening."

These were final moments before the final gun and Washington Union's 21-16 victory over upstart Campolindo (Moraga) in Saturday's CIF State Bowl Division III Championship at the Home Depot Center.

Senior quarterback Chris Cain accounted for three touchdowns - two rushing - Donald Phelps rushed 23 times for 185 yards and the Washington Union defense forced five turnovers as the Panthers won the first bowl game ever involving a Central Section game.

Add in a spectacular 26-yard touchdown grab by Notre Dame-bound Deontay Greenberry - his 33rd of the season - and Washington Union (14-0) had just enough to finish off the feisty, inspired but mistake-prone Cougars (14-1).

"It wasn't our 'A' performance," Freitas said. "We struggled a lot on offense but I give Campolindo a lot of credit for that. We just dug deep and stepped up when we needed to most."

That was mostly on defense as Campolindo, a Cinderella team that was picked to finish last in its league, moved the ball fine between the 20s and actually out-gained Washington Union 336-301 and had more first downs (19-13).

But everytime the Cougars seemed to threaten, Washington Union responded, getting interceptions from Greenbery, Phelps, Greg Wilson and KC Migliore. Greenberry, a long and fleet 6-foot-3, 195-pound senior, also recovered a fumble forced by Dashown Fletcher.

Campolindo needed a couple of spectacular efforts to get in the end zone on second half Brett Stephens touchdown passes of 36 yards to Griffin Piatt and 19 yards to Mason Windatt.

The 16 points Washington Union allowed was more than it had allowed in the six weeks combined. That included four shutouts.

"Our defense has been doing that all year," Freitas said. "We keep teams out of the end zone. We bend usually but rarely break. Once teams get in the red zone, our quickness kicks in. The field shrinks considerably. It makes it really tough to score."

It wasn't tough for Washington Union, which scored on its first two possession, the first on Greenberry's leaping grab over Dan Fadelli (6-0, 180) and Piatt (6-2, 175) on a basic jump ball with 6:31 left in the first quarter.

Greenberry, who came in with 105 catches and 2,149 yards, was contained the rest of the way and finished with just four catches and 57 yards. And on the TD throw from Cain, Fadelli and Piatt were in perfect position.

"He just made an amazing play," Piatt said. "I thought I had the interception. I should have just knocked it away."

When asked how many of his touchdowns receptions were similar to that, Greenberry said. "About half. I felt guys on both sides of me. One guy interfered with me but they didn't call it. Luckily I came down with it."

A 44-yard run by Phelps said up Cain's first TD run, a 3-yarder with 3:08 left in the first and this one appeared to be a rout.

But Campolindo fought back from an early 13-0 deficit to defeat a good El Cerrito team 16-13 in Week 3. It made an even more unlikely comeback, fighting back a 21-0 deficit on the road to shock state-ranked and previous bowl winner Cardinal Newman 35-24.

"I just tried to remind my team of that," Piatt said. "We didn't do anything different defensively. We just played better on defense. Smarter."

After a short Cristian Antezana field goal put Campolindo on the board, the Cougars were driving again, all the way to the Washington Union 8. But a Stephens pass over the middle to Piatt was tipped by Greenberry and Phelps intercepted.

"That was huge," Campolindo coach Kevin Macy said.

Early in the third quarter, the Cougars drove to the Washington Union 19 and Stephens scrambled for seven yards but was hit hard by Fletcher and Greenberry recovered.

"It's rare that a team goes through an entire season without making a lot of mental mistakes," Piatt said. "It just (hurts) that it happened in the state championship."

Piatt or the Cougars never stopped trying. He took an intermediate route over the middle and turned it into a 36-yard touchdown with 2:57 left in the third quarter, making it 14-10.

The large Campolindo contingent kept chanting "I believe that we can win," and the Cougars' defense kept rising to the challenge, especially Windett, who had two interceptions and middle linebacker Vince Graziano added 11 tackles.

The next possession, Campolindo again drove into Washington Union territory, this time to the 23, but a fourth-down halfback option pass that might have scored a touchdown was dropped.

As Macy said in the post-game speech to his team, Campolindo had been playing with house money for some time now. Fatigue, mistakes and mostly Washington Union's speed caught up with the Cougars.

"We talked about the little things," Macy said. "A list of things we prepared for and we just had to see it before we could believe it. After that we started setting in. But when you play talent like that and you spot them a 14-point lead. ... it was a long road back.""

Washington finally took back control after going scoreless on seven possessions when it went 41 yards on six plays, capped by a 1-yard sneak from Cain with 8:18 remaining. A 23-yard run by Phelps set up the score.

"We talked before the season that this was possible," Freitas said. "Now that it's here and we did it, it's hard to fathom." Washington Union 21, Campolindo 16

Campolindo             0 3 7 6 - 16
Washington Union 14 0 0 7 - 21

First quarter
WU - Greenberry 26 pass from Cain (Guynes kick), 6:31
WU - Cain 3 run (Guynes kick), 3:08

Second quarter
C - FG, Antezana 28, 9:44

Third quarter
C - Piatt 36 pass from Stephens (Antezana kick), 2:57

Fourth quarter
WU - Cain 1 run (Guynes kick), 8:18
C - Windatt 19 pass from Stephens (run failed), 0:44

PASSING - C: Stephens 25-40-4-264, Thornton 0-1-0-0. WU: Cain 8-21-2-77.

RUSHING - C: Ebarte 9-30, Rosenbaum 8-26, Stephens 7-12, Thornton 3-5, Vega 1-(-1). Totals 28-72. WU: Phelps 23-182, Cain 5-32, Harrison 3-12, Stell 1-1, Team 2-(-3). Totals 34-224.

RECEIVING - C: Thornton 10-83, Windatt 5-72, Piatt 4-59, Graziano 1-22, Ewing 2-14, Rosenbaum 2-10, Fadelli 1-4. WU: Greenberry 4-57, Stell 2-13, Fletcher 1-4, Phelps 1-3.

TACKLES - C: Graziano 11, Samaniego 7, Bakhtiari 6. WU: Beukers 10, Stell 10, McCurly.

INTERCEPTIONS - C: Windatt 2. WU: Wilson, Migliore, Phelps, Greenberry.

FIRST DOWNS: Campolindo 19, Washington Union 13
PLAYS: Campolindo 69, Washington Union 55
TOTAL YARDS: Campolindo 336, Washington Union 301
FUMBLES/LOST: Campolindo 3/1. Washington Union 1/1
PENALTIES: Campolindo 2-20, Washington Union 6-56
TIME OF POSSESSION: Campolindo 25:30, Washington Union 22:30