High School

California football championships: Simi Valley edges Mira Costa in overtime to win first CIF title

Simi Valley wins first CIF title in overtime - and light outage - at Mira Costa

Tarek Fattal

California football championships: Simi Valley edges Mira Costa in overtime to win first CIF title
California football championships: Simi Valley edges Mira Costa in overtime to win first CIF title /

There were a few tight finishes Saturday night, however, Simi Valley’s game might’ve been the tightest of them all.

The Pioneers erased a 21-point deficit on the road to comeback and defeat Mira Costa 44-38 in overtime to capture the CIF Southern Section Division 6 title — the program’s first football championship ever.

Head coach Jim Benkert now has six CIF championships, combining his trophies from his days at Westlake (4), Oaks Christian (1) and now - maybe the sweetest one - Simi Valley.

Simi Valley’s Brice Hawkins scored a 20-yard run to win the game after the lights at Mira Costa’s stadium went out for 15 minutes in what added to a wild finish.

Mira Costa’s Nico DeSisto nailed a 22-yard field goal in regulation to force overtime at 38-38.

ST. BONAVENTURE WINS D3 WITH FG

St. Bonaventure has a rich football tradition with 10 CIF titles to its name. The search for that 11th title has been long, but the Seraphs finally got it Saturday night — and in dramatic fashion.

George Mann nailed a 26-yard field goal with 16 seconds left to help St. Bonaventure beat Warren 24-21 in the CIF Southern Section Division 3 final at Ventura High.

Koen Glover scored all three touchdowns for St. Bonaventure to anchor its first CIF title since 2008.

MISSION VIEJO TOPS SERVITE

The Diablos are CIF Southern Section Division 2 champions.

Mission Viejo beat Servite at home 34-15 in front of nearly 10,000 fans to claim the program’s first championship since 2015.

Quarterback Luke Fahey threw three touchdown passes, two to Vance Spafford.

Mission Viejo now has eight CIF titles in program history.

Servite’s mighty running back Quaid Carr was held to just 55 yards on 15 carries.

Birmingham routs Garfield for fourth straight City Section Open Division crown

(Feature photo courtesy of Simi Valley Athletics)

Published
Tarek Fattal, SBLive Sports
TAREK FATTAL

Tarek Fattal has been covering high school sports since 2015 in Southern California and primarily in Los Angeles, covering notable athletes such as Bronny James, Kayvon Thibodeaux and Alyssa Thompson. He was with the LA Daily News for eight years, which included being the beat reporter for the UCLA men's basketball team. Tarek can be seen on TV regularly on CBS/KCAL as a sports analyst with Jim Hill.

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