California high school football: Big night for Kresean Kizzy leads Liberty past Pittsburg 48-20 in CIF 1-A Division finals

MISSION VIEJO — Defense wins championships and it doesn't hurt to have a formidable offense either.

Liberty (Bakersfield) used its stout defense to pester Pittsburg quarterback Jaden Rashada all night en route to a 48-20 win over the Pirates in the CIF Division 1-A finals at Saddleback College. Kresean Kizzy had a state finals to remember, becoming the first player with touchdowns on special teams, offense and defense in a title contest.

Meanwhile, Dylan Delgado had four of the five Liberty sacks in the first half and Grant Buckey and the rest of the defensive line made life miserable for the Pirates, taking a 27-6 lead into intermission.

Rashada, headed to Florida, threw a pick-6 to Kizzy on the game's opening drive, returning the wayward pass 48 yards for a 7-0 less than 90 seconds into the game.

Pittsburg's offense sputtered in the next two drives before a Rashada pass to Card set up a first and goal toward the end of the quarter. Zack Card then capped the drive with a 3-yard fly sweep score and the Pirates trailed 7-6 with 2:21 left in the opening quarter.

Liberty wasted no time answering with a 96-yard Kizzy kickoff return for a touchdown, his first of three TDs and the Patriots needed 17 seconds to bump their lead to 14-6.

The Patriots' next score came on a brilliant play from quarterback Cole O’Brien, who saw the corner blitz coming and stepped to his right before delivering a strike to Xander Chisolm on a 9-route for a 51-yard touchdown pass, the first of two for him, and a 21-6 lead. Liberty would add to their lead right before half on a 4-yard TD pass from O'Brien to Chisolm that was set up by a deep pass to Ermiah Harrison.

Coming out of half, Liberty used a clock-sapping drive to bleed nearly five minutes from the third quarter that was capped by a 1-yard O'Brien plunge and a formidable 34-6 edge.

But the Pirates weren't going to go down quietly as Rashada hit Khai Taylor on a 57-yard TD pass to trim the lead to 34-13. However, on the ensuing Pittsburg possession, Kizzy went up from his defensive back position and pulled down his second interception of the night.

Liberty's O'Brien then found Kizzy for an 85-yard touchdown pass and a 41-13 lead just inside the fourth quarter. The Pirates cut the lead to three scores on a 20-yard TD catch by Card, but the fourth quarter was then delayed on the ensuing Liberty possession more than 30 minutes after as medical personnel tended to injured Pirate Jadyn Hudson nearly midway through the period.

After play resumed, the Patriots added to their cushion as Mehki Delouth took a handoff, bounced left outside and raced 21 yards to the pylon and a 48-20 edge with just over 4 minutes to play.