For those that thought Corona Centennial‘s 1-2 start spelled the start of a disastrous 2014 season, they didn’t know about the program that head coach Matt Logan has built in Southern California.
Logan has made a habit out of playing a rock-solid non-league schedule that prepares his teams for the postseason. Coming into Saturday night’s California Open Division championship game against De La Salle, ranked #2 in the High School Football America Top 25, the Huskies are on a 12-game win streak. During the streak, Logan’s troops have picked-up impressive wins over Mater Dei in the PAC-5 playoffs, which avenged an earlier defeat in Week 1 to the Monarchs; Bishop Amat, which holds a road win over Aledo, which won another Texas Class 5A-I championship today; and defending Open Division champ St. John Bosco, which ended the season ranked #5 in the HSFA Top 25.
Corona Centennial’s other loss was at the hands of #4 Bishop Gorman of Nevada. The Huskies looked liked they had that game won, but the Gaels scored 15 points in the final 5 minutes to win 43-42.
This will be the third time that Corona Centennial and De La Salle have met in a California state championship game. De La Salle has won two of the three with the Huskies winning in 2008, which gave them the Division I championship.
Centennial’s run to the championship game was without leading rusher J.J. Taylor, who missed the team’s last three games after an appendectomy. Taylor, who averages 165 yards per game, is back for tonight’s contest in Carson.
Logan’s no-huddle attack has featured two quarterbacks this year – Anthony Catalano and Nate Ketteringham. The two alternate every other series, which has led to a 46 points per game average. De La Salle enters tonight’s contest averaging an all-time program high 52 points per game.
