Vista Murrieta HS Championship Game Preview

After last week’s 56-19 shellacking of the Norco Cougars, coach Coley Candaele’s Broncos are as ready as they’ll ever be—on both sides of the ball.

Their opponent for tonight’s CIF-Southern Section, Inland Division Championship game will be against a common foe—Centennial of Corona.

Game time:  8 p.m.

The two first met in a second-round playoff game in 2008.  The victor that night was the Centennial Huskies, 41-14.

When the Broncos first made it to the “big game” in 2009, their opponent for the CIF Championship was our local Chaparral.  The Pumas scored first and held on to win 13-7.

In 2010, coach Matt Logan’s Huskies hosted Vista Murrieta for the championship winning 45-21, mostly due to a 17-0 third quarter attack.

In 2011, the Bronco’s took a turn hosting and persevered to win a close one, 35-28.

In 2012, again at Vista Murrieta, the two teams battled to the final minute.  The Broncos scored a touchdown to bring the tally to Centennial 30, Vista Murrieta 28.  Trying to force the game into overtime, the Broncos attempt for a two-point conversion failed and the Huskies went home with the prized trophy.

In last Friday’s semi-final match against Upland, Centennial was on the winning side of a record-setting 86-56 game.

In comparing notable season statistics between the Huskies and Broncos, maxpreps.com shows the following:

Rushing Yards Per Game –

323.5  Centennial

269.9  Vista Murrieta

Passing Yards Per Game –

274.1  Centennial

134.4  Vista Murrieta

Total Yards Per Game –

597.5  Centennial

404.3  Vista Murrieta

Tackles Per Game –

59.8  Centennial

90.1  Vista Murrieta

Sacks Per Game –

0.2  Centennial

3.2  Vista Murrieta

Points Per Game –

55.8  Centennial

50.6  Vista Murrieta

Season Highlights:

• Vista Murrieta’s quarterback, Coltin Gerhart (#7), has completed 102 of 166 passes (.614) with 20 touchdowns and 5 interceptions.

• Centennial’s quarterback, Robert Webber (#8), has completed 168 of 283 passes (.594) with 32 touchdowns and 6 interceptions.

• Vista Murrieta’s leading receiver is Colin Baker (#3) with 32 catches for 540 yards and 7 TDs.

• Centennial’s leading receiver is Barry Ware (#2) with 40 catches for 1030 yards and 13 TDs.

• Gerhart leads the Broncos in rushing with 1401 yards on 126 carries.  He has scored 25 touchdowns on the ground.  Teammate Tito Feliciano (#23) has 117 rushes for 993 yards and 11 touchdowns.

• Webber is second in rushing for his team with 600 yards on 83 carries and 8 TDs.  Their top rusher is Cal-bound Tre Watson (#1) with 3194 yards on 323 carries and 46 touchdowns.  His average spiked upward following last week’s team record 711 yards rushing, 519 of which were from Watson on 40 carries.  He also ground out 6 touchdowns in the victory.

Coach Logan’s Huskies set the all-time national high school record last week for total yards in a single game with 943.

http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/highschool-prep-rally/corona-centennial-sets-national-record-943-yards-single-161512676.html

The Broncos defense will have their hands full but, based on their performance all season, they appear up to the challenge. 

• Randy Beggs (#6) has 110 tackles (57 solo) for Vista Murrieta.  Teammates Curtis Bolton (#18) and Mason Evans (#48) are right behind with 96 (69 solo) and 93 (49 solo), respectively.

• Centennial’s best tackler is Xavier Hughes (#55) with 88 (23 solo).

• Bolton gets bonus points for recording the most sacks for the Broncos with 13.

• Centennial’s sack statistics are either inaccurate or they really have only recorded two for the entire season; Patch is not certain which.

• Beggs and Kwesi Mashack (#15) for the Broncos and JJ Taylor (#21) for the Huskies each have three interceptions this season.

• Beggs is always looking for the ball and has three fumble recoveries this year.

• Maschak and Taylor are evenly matched in kickoff and punt return averages, tallying 43.58 and 43.00 yards, respectively.

• Bronco Kicker Aaron Ruth (#28) is 84 of 86 in PATs while his counterpart Jake Perez (#18) is 80 of 90.

• Ruth is 10 of 15 for field goals with his longest being from 42 yards out.  Perez is only 1 of 7 with a long of 39 yards.

The match-up tonight will one for the ages.  Be sure to come watch these two teams battle it out in person at Centennial, follow the scoring via Patch:

http://murrieta.patch.com/groups/sports/p/championship-football-live-scores-from-vista-murrieta-and-corona-centennial?ncid=newsltuspatc00000010

or tune in to FOX Sports Prime Ticket TV beginning at 8 pm.

Records:

Vista Murrieta 12-1 Overall; 5-0 League

Centennial  11-2 Overall; 5-0 League

Give it your all, Broncos!