High School

Riordan wins first WCAL title in 25 years, wins wild one at Serra

Fighting off shoulder injury, leg cramps, Adonyae Brown scores four touchdowns, recovers onside kick to decide history win for the Crusaders

Mitch Stephens

Riordan quarterback accounted for more than 250 yards and three touchdowns on Friday, leading the 11th-ranked Crusaders to a historic victory, 42-35 over Serra to claim its first West Catholic Athletic League title in 25 years.
Riordan quarterback accounted for more than 250 yards and three touchdowns on Friday, leading the 11th-ranked Crusaders to a historic victory, 42-35 over Serra to claim its first West Catholic Athletic League title in 25 years. / Photo Eric Taylor

Adonyae Brown wasn't supposed to play.

But the big, rugged tailback — think prep version of Jerome Bettis plus a few pounds — scored four touchdowns, including the game-clinching 52-yard sprint with just over 3 minutes remaining lifting Archbishop Riordan of San Francisco to an absolutely wild 42-35 win at Serra to decide the West Catholic Athletic League championship.

Brown, who was doubtful due to a shoulder injury (he'd missed the previous two games because of it) and then cramped up late in the second quarter causing a five minute game delay, scored on runs of 2, 23 and 52 yards, and also took home a screen pass of 40 yards as the Crusaders (10-0, 7-0) won their first WCAL title since 2000.

Vanderbilt-bound quarterback Mikey Mitchell also threw for three touchdowns, two to Oregon State-bound wide receiver Cynai Thomas for 16 yards and 61 to help offset a huge effort from Serra's Iziah Singleton who rushed for touchdowns of 7, 7 and six yards.

It was the second year in a row for Riordan over the Padres, who had dominated the series the entire decade.

High school football California
Oregon State-bound WR Cynai Thomas had five catches for 142 yards and two touchdowns in Friday's historic 42-35 win over Serra / Courtesy of Cynai Thomas

Riordan is ranked 11th in the state by High School On SI. The Crusaders will be the No. 1 seed of the Central Coast Section's Open Division playoffs.

Where the seeding committee — or computer — puts Serra is unclear. Clearly, Riordan doesn't want to see them again.

The Padres (6-4, 6-1), who lost their first three games of the season against Top 10 teams in the state — Folsom, De La Salle and St. John Bosco — had their six-game winning streak snapped.

They couldn't stop Riordan's big-game prowess, though they jumped to a 14-0 lead on of 7-yard TD runs by Singleton. Serra looked like it might have made it 21-0 with a short field, but a punt near midfield was muffed by Charlie Walsh, who was clearly nudged by a Riordan defender.

Nothing was called, Riordan recovered and six plays later, Brown, listed at 6-foot, 215, powered in from the 2, to cut the lead to 14-7 with 4:04 left in the half.

Serra freshman quarterback William Orr came off the bench and gave the Padres an immediate spark. He set up Singleton's second touchdown with a 31-yard run, carrying 3 would-be tacklers an additional 15 yards.

After Brown's first touchdown, he completed a 35-yard pass to Walsh, but reliable field goal kicker Saul Marks missed a 30-yard field goal. Riordan immediately took advantage, or seemingly so, as Mitchell, known more for his strong arm than his feet, took off for a 50-yard run.

The Crusaders got down to the 5 but with no timeouts and 28 seconds left, two runs gott only three yards and the ball turned over on downs. Riordan's coaching staff thought Mitchell reached the 2 which would have given them a first-and-goal with less than 10 seconds remaining.

Instead, the Padres ran out the clock, taking a 14-7 lead into intermission.

The Crusaders, who average more than 460 yards per game, got it rolling in the third quarter. Brown ripped off a 23-yard touchdown run to tie it at 14-14 with 9:17 left in the third and after holding on downs, Riordan took its first lead 21-14 on a beautiful 16-yard strike from Mitchell to the 6-4, 185-pound Thomas.

From there, the rivals exchanged some haymackers.

A 51-yard bomb from Orr to Brody Smith set up Singleton's third TD run of the night, a 6-yard, tying the game at 21-21 with 3:57 left in the third quarter.

Back came Riordan with Mitchell getting hit as he left the pocket, dumping the ball to Brown, who, like a train down the tracks, rambled right into the end zone for 40 yards: Riordan 28, Serra 21, 1:15 3Q.

After a pair of punts, the second one a short one from Riordan, set up a one-play, 36-yard touchdown drive as Orr found a streak Walsh down the left sideline, tying the game at 28-28 early in the fourth quarter.

It took Riordan just three plays to take the lead back as Thomas took a short out and turned it into a 61-yard touchdown, giving Riordan a 35-28 lead with 6:05 left.

Serra seemed to strike right back when Smith took a short pass from Orr and zoomed 30 yards to the Riordan 16. But a bad block downfield wiped out the entire gain. On a 4th-and-3 near midfield, Orr threw an incompletion and when Brown burst through the line untouched for a 53-yard TD run, Riordan began to celebrate, up 42-28, and 3:01 left.

But Serra did its own zooming, keyed by a couple athletic plays — a pass and run by Orr — setting up his own 3-yard TD run that was at first ruled down at the 1, but then ruled a score with 42 seconds left.

Serra recovered a nifty onside kick, but after a long discussion, the refs ruled the ball was hit before the 10 yards. That forced a rekick and of all people, Brown recovered to ice it.

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Mitch Stephens
MITCH STEPHENS

Mitch Stephens is a senior editor at SBLive Sports for California, a state he's covered high school sports since 1984. He won multiple CNPA and CPSWA writing awards with the Contra Costa Times, San Francisco Chronicle and MaxPreps.com before joining the SBLive staff in 2022. He's covered the beat nationally since 2007, profiling such athletes as Derrick Henry, Paige Bueckers, Patrick Mahomes, Sabrina Ionescu, Jayson Tatum, Chiney Ogwumike, Jeremy Lin and Najee Harris as preps. You can reach him at mitch@scorebooklive.com.

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