It’s fair to say the Pomona crowd at the North Area Athletic Complex on Friday was a bit stunned when Panthers star running back Max Borghi lost his first fumble of the season to end a promising drive in the first quarter, and then Fairview proceeded to score to take an early lead.
But Pomona, state runner-up the past two seasons, is well aware of how to win a Class 5A playoff slugfest.
Borghi busted free for a 59-yard touchdown run on the Panthers’ next drive as Pomona retook the lead and did not relinquish it the rest of the evening in a decisive 48-31 quarterfinal victory.
“We haven’t had adversity or been in a close game in a long time, but after that fumble Max was like, ‘Okay, that’s it,’ and he made a couple great runs and Ryan (Marquez) threw a couple great passes,” Pomona coach Jay Madden said. “That’s what leaders do.”
Maquez got the fireworks going under cold and damp conditions with a 76-yard heave to junior Billy Pospisil on the Panthers’ first play from scrimmage to make it 7-0, the senior’s first of five touchdown passes on the night.
But senior Tevye Schuett Pelz-Rohl’s 32-yard field goal and sophomore Aidan Atkinson’s 24-yard touchdown pass to junior Matt Greenwald off the Borghi turnover made it 10-7 and shifted the momentum right back to coach Tom McCartney’s squad.
After Borghi’s big run put a gust back into the Big Black faithful, another Marquez touchdown pass — this time a 69-yard strike to senior Riley Govan — gave Pomona a 21-10 lead with 3:28 to play in the second.
"This feeling–playing in Nov & Dec with teammates you've done this with multiple times… It's unreal." @quezus_ & Pomona's 5A playoff march continues into semis #copreps pic.twitter.com/QhB4U215JX
— Kyle Newman (@KyleNewmanDP) November 18, 2017
“Our quarterback played great all night,” Madden said. “He missed a couple throws, but for the most part he was on the money. And as long as we kept scoring, our defense finally relaxed a little bit.”
Schuett Pelz-Rohl and the Knights answered with an impressive 44-yard field goal just before half, but when the teams came back out of the locker rooms for the third, it was Pomona who controlled the line of scrimmage and the scoreboard.
Senior running back Mariano Kemp turned in a notable performance for the Knights, finishing with more than 200 yards rushing and two touchdowns, while sophomore quarterback Aidan Atkinson kept Fairview in the game in the first half with a number of big passing plays.
But Madden’s defense stood tall on several key drives in the second half, while the Panthers’ offensive line was able to create plenty of holes for Borghi and junior Theorius Robison in addition to giving Marquez time to stand in the pocket. Pospisil finished with three receiving scores to pace the Panthers’ aerial attack.
Meanwhile, to the southeast, Grandview pulled off a stunner by toppling previously undefeated and two-time defending champion Valor Christian 28-19, thus setting the Wolves up with a semifinal bout against Pomona next week.
Listen to the archived broadcast:
