College Football:
What a way to win a CCCAA championship.
One year after enduring a 55-0 beatdown at the hands of San Mateo in the state title game, Riverside City College got a walk-off field goal to earn a state championship, 24-21, over those same Bulldogs.
Gabe Panikowski’s 23-yard field goal with no time remaining secured the win.
San Mateo would get on the board first.
Valentino Foni’s 3-yard TD run just four minutes into Saturday’s showdown at RCC gave San Mateo a 7-0 lead.
Riverside got even, as Bryce Strong rumbled into the end zone from two yards out.
RCC took its first lead of the game at the 13:16 mark of the second quarter.
Jordan Barton scored on a 10-yard TD run.
With two seconds remaining in the first half, Anthony Grigsby hit Terence Loville on a 3-yard TD pass.
Barton would give the Tigers their second lead of the game, 21-14, with his 14-yard TD run in the fourth quarter.
A 1-yard Foni TD run with 2:01 to play allowed the Bulldogs to catch Riverside again, at 21-21.
But the RCC offense drove the ball to the San Mateo 6-yard line, and Panikowski do the rest.
Former Damien quarterback, Jordan Barton, completed 22-of-31 for 211 yards.
Barton didn’t throw a TD pass and he was intercepted once by Jeremiah Patterson.
But Barton had a game-high 114 yards rushing on 18 carries, and that included the TD runs of 10 and 14 yards.
Strong carried the ball 16 times for 76 yards and the one score.
Strong also had a game-high nine receptions to go with 97 receiving yards.
San Mateo’s Grigsby completed 19-of-26 for 236 yards.
He tossed the one TD and he was picked by Kaden Willerford.
Nate Sanchez (12 carries) and Matthew White (8) gained 48 yards apiece for the Bulldogs ground game.
Fidel Pitts had five receptions for 115 yards to lead the San Mateo receiving corps.
Ja’wuan Nickson and Esaia Bogar led RCC with eight tackles apiece, while Edward Gilds and Leo Tupou had six tackles each.
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Box Score:
SM: 7-7-0-7-(21)
RCC: 7-7-0-10-(24)
Scoring:
SM: Valentino Foni 3 run (Caleb Ojeda kick)
RCC: Bryce Strong 2 run (Gabe Panikowski kick)
RCC: Jordan Barton 10 run (Gabe Panikowski kick)
SM: Terence Loville 3 pass from Anthony Grigsby (Caleb Ojeda kick)
RCC: Jordan Barton 14 run (Gabe Panikowski kick)
SM: Valentino Foni 1 run (Caleb Ojeda kick)
RCC: Gabe Panikowski 23 FG
Records: San Mateo (11-2), Riverside (12-1)
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