How a California school with 82 boys won third straight CIF football title (video)

Rio Hondo Prep's run to a Division 9, 7 and 5 CIF Southern Section championship is something so remarkable, it sounds too good to be true.

Rio Hondo Prep poses after winning a CIF Southern Section Division 5 title over Redondo Union. / Fred Robledo/X

Rio Hondo Prep's three-year run is one of the best high school sports stories you'll ever read about.

The small school in Arcadia, Calif., which has an enrollment of roughly 150 students (boys and girls), including 82 boys — a huge bump from the 71 boys the school had last fall ... — is making waves regionally for being a football powerhouse.

Yes, a powerhouse.

And even more impressive, the Kares have marched their way into a higher division each postseason — not just by one division, but by two. In 2023, Rio Hondo Prep won Division 9, last year it won Division 7, and this past weekend it took down Redondo Union — with an enrollment of roughly 3,000 — to complete a three-peat, 29-7, and win the CIF Southern Section Division 5 crown.

Wait there's more ... the win came without star running back Noah Penunuri, who's a two-time CIF Player of the Year. Penunuri suffered a high-ankle sprain in the semifinal game.

Didn't matter — the running attack was done by committee with Nathaniel Shine, Christian Lee and Elias Har, who each rushed for more than 50 yards, and each scored a rushing touchdown.

'THE SYSTEM'

It's a mystery as to why no team can stop Rio Hondo Prep the past three seasons. The Kares are 40-4 in that stretch, including a section playoff record of 12-0.

How do they keep winning? In the three-year stretch, the program has sent just one player to a notable college program, and that was Ryan McCulloch (Cal).

Rio Hondo Prep coach Mark Carson came onto the FATTAL FACTOR to talk about "the system".

"The kids learn our system in 7th grade. The system is the same at the varsity level, so that's very helpful," Carson said. "We have great families. And I encourage players that graduate to come back and coach."

Rio Hondo Prep captains take the field before taking on Maranatha. / Rene Morales SBLive

As far as the meteoric rise?

"I think the CIF (playoff) format has a lot to do with that," Carson added. "Had it not changed, we'd be playing Desert Christian, and nobody would've cared. The format forced our hand to play bigger, better schools."

Redondo Union, headlined by quarterback Cole Leinart (son of former USC QB Matt Leinart), was stymied by the Rio Hondo Prep defense despite the size of the offensive and defensive lines of the Sea Hawks, and how explosive running back Bo Ausmus is.

Didn't matter — Ausmus scored his team's lone touchdown in the first quarter and Redondo Union never saw the end zone again. Rio Hondo Prep held the Sea Hawks to just 207 total yards. Ausmus tallied 154 yards himself, including a 99-yard touchdown run. That was it.

"We are a pro-style offense with a heavy run emphasis, West Coast passing concepts that are really difficult to prepare for in one week," Carson said.

NO TRANSFERS, HOMEGROWN

Redondo Union had eight transfers this year, seven of which became eligible later in the year. Four served a sit-out period and three were immediately approved after transferring from Bishop Montgomery (which canceled its season due to CIF violations).

Didn't matter — Rio Hondo Prep had zero transfers. The team is home grown through a youth football program that forges its players in 7th and 8th grade.

Rio Hondo Prep's Noah Penunuri. / Donn Parris

"That's one of the unique things about our school," Carson said. "Our 7th and 8th graders play tackle football ... this group of (high school) seniors went undefeated their 8th grade year, so we could foresee we'd be pretty good."

This year's varsity team is 14-0 after Saturday night's CIF final victory.

CULTURE OVER NUMBERS

Another unique aspect of this small school is its culture. It is mandatory that all boys be part of the football program. A student doesn't have to play, but needs to be part of the program's working in some fashion: water boy, team manager, statistician, band, gameday operations — something.

"It's funny, we've had some kids start as managers and say its too much work, so they end up playing," Carson said.

It's working, because Rio Hondo Prep continues to knock off big schools, big programs and send top players home.

Here is a year-by-year breakdown of the schools RHP has taken out in the last three postseasons. Eleven of the 12 are public schools.

(School, enrollment, *denotes CIF final)

2023	2024	2025
St. Margaret's (private)	Ramona (2,200)	Thousand Oaks (1,800)
Orange (1,750)	ML King (2,800)	Troy (2,500)
Vista del Lago (1,750)	West Torrance (1,800)	La Serna (2,400)
*Santa Monica (2,500)	*Warren (3,600)	*(Redondo Union (3,000)

Didn't matter — culture, belief and identity are what Rio Hondo Prep hangs its hat on, despite its lack of size in enrollment or even on the field.

"When we played Warren in the CIF final last year, my buddy watched from the end zone and said that when Warren was on offense (driving the opposite direction), he couldn't see our defense," Carson said chuckling. "But when someone like that drops, you figure there's a chink in the armor somewhere. It's up to us as a staff to find a way to knife in there and try to expose it."

CIF STATE PLAYOFFS

The only thing eluding Rio Hondo Prep is a CIF State title. In 2023, the Kares lost in the regional final to Tulare Mission Oak, 30-14. In 2024, the Kares reached the CIF State Division 3-A final but lost to Vanden (another public school), 42-41 in overtime.

This fall, RHP will take another shot at CIF State glory, but first it needs to beat Sana Fe Christian on the road in the regional final on Saturday, Nov. 6 at 6 p.m.

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