Update: Oceanside falls to the Corona del Mar High School Sea Kings 14-7 ending the 11-4 Pirates season.
Oceanside CA— The El Camino Wildcats (ECHS) defeated the Golden Bears of Temecula Valley High School 18-34 in the 2019 CIF State Football Championship Bowl Games, Division 3-AA” tournament and advance to the Championship game next weekend.
Unlike the CIF San Diego Section Championship game last week where the Wildcats had to come from behind in epic fashion to claim the section title, El Camino got the lead early and never looked back in a game that wasn’t as close as the score might indicate.
With 4:50 left in the first quarter, El Camino quarterback Kiah Reid hit Jacob Gathright in the flat and Gathright took it 48 yards for the touchdown. The PAT was good and the Wildcats were up 0-7.
On the kick-off, Temecula Valley’s Jalin Taylor returned the ball the ECHS 46 yard line. The Golden Bear drive stalled on the El Camino 26 where Temecula Valley attempted a fake field goal. The Wildcats Mackavelli Malotumau picked off the attempted lateral on the fake and ran the ball back to the Temecula Valley 25 yard line. Noah Sega (18 carries for 82 yards and 3 TD’s) took the ball the rest of the way on the first play from scrimmage giving the Wildcats a 0-14 lead with 3:19 left in the first quarter.
Temecula Valley drove down to the ECHS 17 yard line on their next possession but had to settle for a field goal, 3-14 with under a minute left in the first quarter.
The Wildcats would drive 73 yards on their next possession which was capped off by a 1 yard touchdown run by Noah Sega, PAT good, 3-21 with 9:05 left in the first half.
After the teams traded punts, Kiah Ried hit Alexander Fetko for a 67 yard touchdown. The PAT failed and the Wildcats went into the locker room with a 3-27 lead at the half.

The recovery of an on-side kick to start the second half seemed to light a little spark for the Golden Bears but that spark fizzled quickly when Noah Sega intercepted Zachary Zella’s pass on fourth and 10 and returned it 71 yards for the score.
The Golden Bears would score twice late in the fourth quarter but the season would end for Temecula Valley with a final record of 12-3.
The Wildcats at 9-6 have a long road trip ahead for them as they will travel to Santa Rosa, north of San Fransisco, for the championship game against the 13-1 Cardinal Newman High School Cardinals. The Cardinals defeated Los Gatos 7-42 in their semi-final game last night.
Today in a CIF State Football Championship Bowl Games, Division 1-A semi-final match-up, the Oceanside Pirates (11-3) will take on the 14-0 Sea Kings of Corona del Mar High School at 6:00pm in Newport Beach.