California Bowl: Small Schools Preview

CIF State Bowl Game Preview

Small Schools — Hamilton Union (Hamilton City) 10-2 vs. St. Margaret’s (San Juan Capistrano) 13-0

When: Friday, 4:30 p.m.

Where: Home Depot Center, Carson, Calif.

TV: Southern California – FSN Prime Ticket; Northern California – CSN Bay Area Plus.

Audio: www.KBCSports.com

Other Games

FRIDAY

Division I: De La Salle (Concord) 12-1 vs. Centennial (Corona) 14-0, 8 p.m.

SATURDAY

Division III: Cardinal Newman (Santa Rosa) 13-0 vs. St. Bonaventure (Ventura), 13-1, noon.

Division II: St. Mary’s (Stockton) 12-2 vs. Cathedral Catholic (San Diego) 13-0, 4 p.m.

Open Division: Grant (Sacramento) 13-0 vs. Long Beach Poly 14-0, 8 p.m.

More State Info

Tickets: Home Depot Center Box office, Ticketmaster at www.ticketmaster.com; Tickets $15 for adults, $8 for high school student (with valid ASB card), seniors (65+) and children.

Nike Coaches Clinic: Saturday, 9:30-11:30 a.m., Agassi Pavilion. Clinicians are Pete Carroll and Chris Carlisle. More information, click here.

Ancillary events: California State High School Cheerleading and Dance Championships

Wednesday previews: Small schools, Division I.

Thursday previews: Division II, Division III

Friday previews: Open Division, 10 Players to Watch

Rankings — Hamilton: No. 375 overall in California by MaxPreps.com/CalPreps.com; St. Margaret’s: No. 130 overall in California by MaxPreps.com/CalPreps.com.

Notable Alums — Hamilton: Kyle Lohse (current St. Louis Cardinal pitcher). St. Margaret’s: Hunter Steffien (all-state running back in 2007).

Leading Rusher — Hamilton: Omar Diaz (147-1,152-12 TD). St. Margaret’s: John Murayama (168-1,195-24 TD)

Leading Passer — Hamilton: Brad Lohse (98-170-1,419-12 TD). St. Margaret’s: David Mothander (129-228-2,534-32).

Leading Receiver — Hamilton: Drew Knight (23-400-1 TD). St. Margaret’s: Alex Brolick (50-986-13 TD).

Points per game: Hamilton 31.2, St. Margaret’s 48.8.

Points allowed per game: Hamilton 7.9, St. Margaret’s 4.4.

MaxPreps.com

CARSON, Calif. - One coach is a rookie, the other a veteran, when it comes to state championship bowl games.

Hamilton head coach Mark Cooley and his Braves are the first Northern Section team to be selected for a CIF bowl game. The significance of his team’s selection is not lost on the 10-year coach.

“It was exciting to get selected, but it brings a lot of pressure with it,” said Cooley, who has an 83-35 record with the Braves. “We’re not just representing our school and our community, we’re representing the entire Northern Section. If we don’t come prepared and ready to make a good showing, that could affect whether or not Northern Section schools are chosen in the future.”

Cooley and the Braves (10-2) will face a St. Margaret’s team with plenty of credentials on its resume. Aside from three straight Southern Section championships, the Tartans (14-0) hold the Orange County record for most consecutive wins at 42. Oh yeah, they also have a coach, Harry Welch, who has already won one CIF bowl game when he was the head coach at Canyon of Canyon Country.

Welch began his coaching career in 1982 at Canyon before stepping down in 1993. He returned to Canyon in 2001 and led the Cowboys to two straight section titles in his final two seasons, 2005 and 2006, along with a 27-13 win over De La Salle in the inaugural CIF Division 1 bowl game also at the Home Depot Center in Carson.

“That was definitely a great achievement and memorable moment,” Welch said. “Hopefully we can duplicate that on Friday.” 

Welch left Canyon in 2006 to take the job at St. Margaret’s where his teams have gone 28-0 the past two seasons under his tutelage. Welch is 218-45-3 in over 20 years of coaching. He took over for Jason Hitchens, who resigned at St. Margaret’s after going 13-0 in 2005.

“No good coach takes over a program that just went undefeated,” Welch said. “I had to be crazy.”

Despite the impressive resume, the Tartans were no shoo-in for the Southern California berth. Francis Parker of the San Diego Section was also considered thanks to a 12-1 record and an impressive performance in the San Diego Division 5 playoffs.

Likewise, Hamilton found competition in its own backyard from Modoc, a Northern Section school that posted a 12-0 record and won the Division 4 championship. Hamilton, the Division 3 champion, was 10-2 overall, but played in a higher division than Modoc and also won the section title last year with a 13-0 mark.

“I think the 13-0 team definitely helped us,” said Cooley. “Going 13-0 last year showed how good these kids have been the past two seasons. I wish I could take those seniors from last year’s team with us.”

The Braves have had a long layoff since winning the section title on Nov. 26. However, Cooley says the team has been practicing ever since and the break has helped his team get healthy. St. Margaret’s completed its season last weekend with a 17-3 win over 29 Palms.

After watching Hamilton on film, Welch is concerned with his opponent’s toughness.

“You can see they are extremely focused and tough farm boys from rural Northern California,” he said. “They play as harder or harder than any team we’ve faced. We have to find a way to match their intensity and hopefully our execution will be as good as it has been all season.”

HAMILTON OFFENSE/ST. MARGARET’S DEFENSE

The Braves rely on a variety of sets to move the ball on offense. Junior quarterback Brad Lohse, the cousin of current MLB pitcher Kyle Lohse, sometimes operates out of the spread and is capable of throwing the ball deep. At 6-foot-3, Lohse is also capable of moving the pile on a quarterback sneak while also fast enough to get around the end on a bootleg.

“He’s very smart and picked up the offense very quickly,” Cooley said. “Within three games we knew we were in very good hands.”

Lohse doesn’t have any one favorite receiver, although brothers Pete and Drew Knight, along with Omar Diaz, each catch the ball out of the backfield. Tight end Joey Van Houtte is second on the team in receptions with 16.

The Braves are also just as likely to lineup in a fullhouse backfield, moving two-time all-Northern Section pick Ryan Schimke (6-1, 230) from the offensive line to fullback. Schimke can also carry the ball and has scored a pair of touchdowns this year. Diaz is the usual ballcarrier, utilizing his quickness to get to the outside, but the Braves also utilize Peter Knight (673 yards, six touchdowns).

“It’s primarily (Diaz) but we don’t hesitate at all using (Knight),” Cooley said. “We go to whoever is hot.”

The Braves don’t need to get into the end zone to score. Kicker Oscar Pineda ranks as the all-time leader in field goals in Northern Section history with 22. He had 13 this year and has a long of 57. Also the team’s punter, Pineda averages 45 yards a kick.

With eight shutouts, the Tartans have been downright stingy on defense. Unlike with his inexperienced offense, Welch was pretty sure his defense, with returning all-leaguers like DL Chasen Smith and Austin Holden, DE William Findiesen and DB Alex Brolic, would be stout.

They have been particularly tough on quarterbacks, sacking opposing throwers 43.5 times and intercepting 12 passes.

Baileys has 14 sacks and Findiesen eight this year while Brolic and Michael Schmall have each picked off four passes. Findiesen has a remarkable 32 tackles behind the line of scrimmage.

ST. MARGARET’S OFFENSE/HAMILTON DEFENSE

The Tartans are hurting in the backfield with running backs John Murayama and freshman Matthew Duenas both banged up a bit. Murayama has the more serious injury, a hamstring, which has kept him out of the post season. Duenas has filled in quite ably with 192 yards in a 63-0 playoff win over Maranatha. However Duenas might also be less than full speed.

Nevertheless, the Tartans still have quarterback David Mothander, who has thrown for 2,534 yards and 32 touchdowns and has also run for 754 yards and 15 scores. Mothander’s best outing was a 314-yard effort with four touchdowns in a win early in the season against Army-Navy.

The offensive line has been crucial to the success of the Tartans. Chase Smith (6-3, 220) is a returning league MVP at tackle while Mack Santora (6-1, 206), Connor McClure (6-0, 218), Colfax Selby (6-1, 202) and Jeff Askin (5-10, 215) make up the rest of the front line. The line has allowed the Tartans to average 387 yards of offense per game.

Schimke leads the Hamilton defense at linebacker. The Mid-Valley League MVP and a two-time all-Northern Section pick, Schimke has 420 tackles over the past three seasons including 141 this year. The Braves have also registered 32 sacks and 19 interceptions with Diaz picking off a team-high eight passes.

EXTRA POINTS

Hamilton is hosting its annual Block H boys and girls basketball tournament the same weekend as the state football bowl games … The Braves have had some previous success in the state playoffs in basketball, winning a first-round NorCal boys basketball game in 2007 … St. Margaret’s was also the highest-scoring team in California this year with 683 points. Second highest was Francis Parker (674), which the Tartans edged for the Southern California berth. … During a film exchange on Monday, Welch and Cooley spoke almost 30 minutes and gave fairly detailed scouting reports on each other’s team. “He was very open so I was very open,” Cooley said. “I appreciated it.” … The Tartans made quite a transition at RB this season after going from 6-2, 220-pound Steffien (now at Colgate) to Murayama (5-3, 135). “We lost some height and weight but the numbers were still there,” Welch said. 

Senior writer/columnist Mitch Stephens contributed to this report.