Sean McGrew scored the decisive touchdown for St. John Bosco in its victory over Long Beach Poly, spurring another trip to the Pac 5 final.
File photo by Louis Lopez
avenged its loss from the infamous "Fog Bowl" Friday night, leaving
Long Beach Poly (Calif.) in a fog.
The Braves (12-1), ranked sixth in the nation, are headed to Angel Stadium to fight for the Pac 5 title after dispatching Poly by a 33-21 count at Cerritos College. The two most recognizable stars for the Braves were somewhat pedestrian in the opening half of the Pac 5 semifinal, then got rumbling in the crucial parts of the contest.
Josh Rosen, St. John Bosco
File photo by Jann Hendry
Running back
Sean McGrew may have finished with a very solid line of 24 carries, 150 yards and a touchdown, but his biggest impact up until late in the third quarter was his punting. When the Braves needed a running back to get in there and gobble up yards, eat some clock and finish off the Jackrabbits (11-2), McGrew showed (as usual) that he was up to the task.
His 21-yard touchdown with 1:43 left sealed the deal, including a wonderful display of balance to fight off a torpedo-like tackle attempt at his legs.
"Our O-line just wore them down and opened some holes in the second half," McGrew told Fox Sports West reporter Rashaun Haylock after the game.
Josh Rosen didn't throw the ball all over the field but what he did was manage the ballgame. The UCLA commit finished 12-for-16 with 127 yards and two scores.
For a program coming off a state title and a national title according to the MaxPreps Computer Rankings, avenging the "Fog Bowl" loss of 2012 was a pretty big deal. In that contest, a pea soup fog blanketed Memorial Stadium at Long Beach City College to where seeing the opposite sideline was nearly impossible. The winning margin in that 13-10 Poly triumph was scored on a touchdown pass to JuJu Smith that was proven to be an incompletion on television replays. Smith actually picked the ball off the ground yet it was called a score.
On Friday, Poly started off hot with a 54-yard scoring pass from
Josh Love to
Johnnie Rucker in the opening minutes. The Jackrabbits were ready to receive a Bosco punt later and maybe add to the lead when the punt was muffed and the Braves took advantage, tying the game on a fourth-and-goal scoring run from
Clifford Simms.
Mykal Tolliver, St. John Bosco
File photo by Darryl Oumi
The bomb was once again friendly for Poly when Love found
Justin Calhoun for 66 yards to set up an 11-yard scoring pass to
Jackie Jones on the opening play of the second quarter. Rosen answered with a 7-yard scoring pass to
Jared Harrell with 9:30 left in the first half.
Then the Braves defense pitched in, with
Mykal Tolliver intercepting a Love pass and taking it 36 yards for a touchdown with 3:42 left in the first half. The extra point missed, and that meant Poly got the lead back (21-20) when
Jeremy Calhoun ran in from 9 yards out and
Chile Gomez made a penalty-aided extra point from 35 yards out.
From there, Love was out of the game in favor of
Tevaka Salanoa-Tuioti and two McGrew punts pinned Poly back behind its own 10. They weren't able to score any more.
Bosco got a 23-yard score from Rosen to
Joey Chenoweth with 7:58 left before McGrew helped munch up around four minutes of clock before his touchdown run.
Bosco moves on to face Centennial (Corona) in a rematch of last season's 70-49 Bosco victory in the Southern California Open Division Regional Bowl. Kickoff is at 8 p.m. on Saturday.
