No. 25 Mission Viejo gets defensive against Bellarmine, wins first CIF Bowl title

Video: Colin Schooler's highlights vs. Vista Murrieta
See the Mission Viejo running back in action last week

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — It was a long haul and a wet night - but an utterly successful journey for the No. 25 Mission Viejo (Calif.) football team Friday night.

Utilizing a bruising running game and even more punishing defense, the Diablos won their first CIF bowl game championship and state-leading 28th-consecutive game with an absolutely dominant 24-0 win over a very good Bellarmine College Prep (San Jose, Calif.) Friday night at soggy Sacramento State University.

"This one was special," Mission Viejo coach Bob Johnson said. "This is just a great bunch of guys and a great team."

A week after Bellarmine racked up almost 400 yards and 42 points against an undefeated Folsom squad, the Bells managed just 51 yards and were tackled for losses 16 times.

Before the game, Bellarmine coach Mike Janda said the Diablos on film might have been the best defense against which his team has ever coached. He sure looked correct.

"They were very powerful," Janda, the Central Coast Section's winningest coach with 270 victories, told Darren Sabedra of the San Jose Mercury News. "We knew that coming in. We just couldn't get anything going. All the credit goes to them. They took it to us."

Utilizing a giant offensive line, Mission Viejo wasn’t bad on offense, either.

Colin Schooler, a 6-foot-2, 210-pound junior, bruised the Bellarmine defense with 31 carries for 230 yards and two touchdowns. He had 10 carries for 101 yards and two TDs alone in the third quarter, when Mission Viejo took complete command.

He finished off drives of 65 and 70 yards with TD plunges of 2 and 1 yards to go up 24-0 heading into the fourth.
Brock Johnson, the nephew of former NFL quarterback Rob Johnson and grandson of head coach Bob Johnson, threw two first-half touchdowns, one each to Olaijah Griffin and Austin Osborne.

The only thing Mission Viejo didn’t do well was the extra-point kick. The Diablos had two blocked and missed on a pair of 2-point conversions.

Otherwise it was a very long night for the Bells, who lost their third-straight bowl game appearance. The previous two were tight. Friday they simply were overmatched at the line of scrimmage.

Coach Johnson racked up his 330th win and capped it with his first 16-0 season. This one was special. Two seasons out of the Pac-5 Division because of league realignment, the Diablos definitely looked like they could have competed in arguably the country's top playoff bracket. 

They certainly looked like a Top 25 national team.

"We’re a pretty resilient team,” Bob Johnson told Dan Albano of the Orange County Register. "I’m just so proud of the team. … (We’re) very banged up. We lost a lot of guys, but that’s OK. We kept playing.”

The longtime coach, feeling misty - much like the weather - said he'll miss his grandson and the rest of the seniors. He called it a humble and selfless group during the season.

Brock Johnson told Albano: "This is beyond words. This is just amazing." He also called his defense "Insane."

The game was largely between the 20s, before the rain let up slightly and Johnson got it going. He threaded the needle on a 27-yard pass along the sideline to Brenden Schooler, who made a superb catch between two defenders to the Bellarmine 25.

After converting a fourth-down play, Johnson completed a 13-yard touchdown pass to Griffin, making it 6-0 Mission Viejo with 3:26 left in the half.

Bellarmine went three-and-out and following a short punt, Johnson rolled right and fired a pretty 40-yard TD bomb to Osborne, making it 12-0 with 2:43 left in the half.

The real story of the half was Mission Viejo’s defense. Bellarmine was completely stuffed when it tried to run its double-wing run attack and when quarterback Troy Martig tried to pass, he was smothered.

Like his coach, Martig was graceful in defeat.

"Obviously, they were the better team," Martig told Sabedra. "They had a strategy to knock down our offense. We couldn't get anything going. They played fast and physical. Hats off to them. They played a crazy, good game. They deserved this win, definitely."

Mission Viejo 24, Bellarmine 0

Mission Viejo   0  12  12  0  — 24
Bellarmine       0   0    0   0  —  0

Second quarter
MV - Griffin 13 pass from Johnson (kick blocked), 3:28
MV - Osborne 40 pass from Johnson (pass failed), 2:43

Third quarter
MV - C. Schooler 2 run (rush failed), 7:03
MV - C. Schooler 1 run (kick blocked), 3:38

RUSHING
MV - Schooler 31-230, Vallier 8-29, Johnson 5-(-5). Totals 44-248. B - Garcia 11-61, Fernandez 7 6, Martig 15-1, Buenrostro 2-(-9). Totals 37-44.

PASSING
MV - Johnson 5-15-2-117. B - Martig 3-9-0-7.

RECEIVING
MV - B. Schooler 2-32, Osborne 1-40, Lee 1-32, Griffin 1-13. B - Buenrostro 2-5, Fernandez 1-2.

TACKLES
MV - C. Schooler 9, LaValle 8, B. School 7, Covarrubias 7. B - Bringuel 11, Burrill 10, Fernandez 7, Bergstrom 6.

TEAM STATS
First downs: MV 19, B 8
Total yards: MV 365, B 51
Fumbles/lost: MV 1/1, B 3/0
Penalties: MV 3-25, B 4-25