by Paul Teetor
They were singing – and dancing — in the rain at Sea Hawk Stadium Friday night.
The Redondo football team continued its remarkable turnaround from an 0-3 start – in which it was outscored 81-23 – by snatching a late victory from the hungry jaws of defeat with a gritty 14-13 victory over St. Paul in a Division 5 quarterfinal on a soaking-wet Friday night.
With St. Paul knocking at the door just a few yards from a possible winning score – either a touchdown or a field goal would have beaten the Sea Hawks — Redondo linebacker Lincoln Esparza forced a late red-zone fumble that preserved Redondo’s 14-13 lead with a couple of minutes left in the wet and wild contest.
“What a game,” Esparza said of the roller-coaster playoff game.
With the thrilling victory, Redondo was into its first CIF-Southern Section semifinal since 2015.
The game turned on one late play.
Esparza’s brutal hit stopped St. Paul at the 9-yard line, Mikey Ricardo scooped up the ball with 3:43 left, and the Sea Hawks hung onto their one-point lead to send Redondo into next week’s semifinal at Loyola.
“I saw the gap open up, and I knew it was time to make a play,” Esparza said. “We had some great practices this week. Our team understood the assignment. We persevered and we all believed in each other.”
Redondo, now 8-4 after its 0-3 start, was led as usual by Bo Ausmus, the star running back who continued his late-season surge after missing the first part of the season due to injury.
“If the kicker makes a tackle on you,
you really shouldn’t be on special teams.”
— Sea Hawk’s Bo Ausmus
commenting on his kick-off return against St. Paul
Ausmus scored on a shifty 16-yard run in the second quarter and added his own highlight reel moment with an 86-yard kickoff return for a touchdown that swung the game and gave Redondo a 14-13 lead at the 3:47 mark in the third quarter.
“I hit the hole as hard as I could,” Ausmus said. “The guys were giving me some great blocks, and I just cribbed it. As soon as I saw the kicker, I knew. If the kicker makes a tackle on you, you really shouldn’t be on special teams.”
Special teams were the difference against a gutty St. Paul squad that was riding its own comeback from an 0-6 start to put together a strong late-season run.
Relying on its relentless ground game, St. Paul dominated in time of possession and held the ball for nearly 11 minutes more than Redondo. They also gained 222 total yards compared to Redondo’s 106 total yards, with two rushing touchdowns from quarterback Gabriel Cataneda.
But St. Paul, now 4-8, botched a snap on a punt attempt, missed an extra point kick – it proved to be the difference in the final score — allowed Ausmus’ 86-yard kickoff return and lost two fumbles.
“We gave the game away,” St. Paul coach Mike Moschetti said. “We knew it was going to be wet. In a rainy game, the team that is more disciplined is going to win. And they were more disciplined than we were tonight.”
Castaneda threw for 88 yards and rushed for 37 yards and two touchdowns in the slick conditions.
Marley Luatua (50 yards, 13 carries) and Jace Levario (45 yards, 5 carries) keyed St. Paul’s ground game.
“We gave up drives and yards, but our defense really hung in there and kept fighting,” Redondo coach Keith Ellison said. “Lincoln Esparza loves to hit people and he was all over the field tonight. I give him credit for leading the defense.”
After missing the first half of the season, Ausmus now has 13 touchdowns in his last six games.
His 86-yard kickoff return answered Castaneda’s 8-yard scoring run that had capped an 8-minute, 13-play, 80-yard drive.
“The kid is awesome,” Ellison said. “We missed him so much early in the season. In every game since he has come back, he has made such a huge impact.”
Ausmus paced Redondo with 56 yards and a touchdown on seven carries, and quarterback Cole Leinart chipped in to the ground attack with 48 yards on four carries.
Redondo came into the game after taking down Torrance – the No. 1 seed in Division 5 – in a first-round shocker last week.
Now Redondo will look to keep their playoff streak going against a Loyola team that beat Bonita 21-14 on Friday night.
“We show up and we keep building,” Ellison said. “I don’t think anyone saw us coming as the No. 16 seed. We have always been a good program, but we have not been in too many semifinals.
Since Day 1, this team has continued to get better day after day. If you had told me in Week 1 that this is where we would be, I would’ve thought you were crazy.”
Every Day is Sho Day
With Dodgers fans still wandering around in a I-can’t-believe-we-won-it daze, the time was perfect for the announcement Friday night that Shohei Ohtani had won his fourth Most Valuable Player award in the last five seasons.
The first two were when he was with the Angels, so they came from the American League. The next two were won with the Dodgers, and in true fairy tale fashion they served as reminders that the Dodgers had indeed repeated as World Series champs – the first team to do it since the New York Yankees 25 years ago.
As usual, his statistics for the regular season – the voting does not take the playoffs into account – were mind boggling. He finished with 55 home runs – one more than last season – and led the majors with 146 runs scored. As a pitcher, he had a 2.87 ERA with 62 strikeouts and just nine walks.
Ohtani seems to set a new record for something nearly every day, and Friday was no different. He became the first player ever to win two MVP awards from the two different leagues (Frank Robinson is the only other player to do it, but the great outfielder for the Reds and the Orioles only did it once.)
He also became the first player chosen unanimously by the panel of sports media four times.
Ohtani was typically modest and humble upon receiving the news.
“I never start off a season aiming to get the MVP,” he said through an interpreter. “At the end of the day, we want to be playing in the World Series.”
Mission accomplished – again.
Contact: teetor.paul@gmail.com
