SLO High football falls in semifinals of Division 3 playoffs to Bakersfield Christian

Coming into Friday’s CIF-Central Section Division 3 semifinal, San Luis Obispo High quarterback Emilio Corona had thrown only four interceptions all season.

In the first half against Bakersfield Christian he had three, and finished with five.

The Eagles capitalized on uncharacteristic Tiger mistakes, staking a 28-point lead and ultimately winning 35-14 to advance to the Division 3 final.

It was the first time all season that a team held the high-powered Tiger offense to under 28 points in game.

The No. 2-seeded Eagles are no slouches on offense either. Earlier this year, Bakersfield Christian roared back from 11 points down to defeat St. Joseph.

Difference on defense

San Luis Obispo (10-2) had yet to play a team with the same level of athletes on its roster. On Friday, that changed.

Led by Ben Yurosek, a Stanford-committed tight end and defensive end, the Eagles’ athleticism across the field proved to be too much for the Tigers, holding them scoreless in the first half.

Yurosek had been controversially ejected from last week’s game against Lemoore but was cleared to play after his suspension was overturned on appeal.

The difference was apparent on defense. No teams this season had been able to consistently match up with the Tiger receiving corps of Carson Leedom, Max Soltero, Jeremy Fitzsimmons and Sam Ogden.

The Eagles were able to do that and more, creating four turnovers and holding the Tigers to just five completions in the first half alone.

The Tigers got on the board with just under six minutes remaining in the third quarter when Corona found Fitzsimmons for an 8-yard score. The touchdown was set up by 28-yard run by Corona.

Corona also scored a 10-yard rushing touchdown with four minutes remaining in the fourth.

Chris Gutierrez had two first-half interceptions for Bakersfield Christian, who are coached by Oakland Raiders’ quarterback Derek Carr’s older brother, Darren.

Dominic Gamboni threw for four touchdowns to four different receivers.

The Tigers recovered two fumbles by the Eagles, including one on a strip sack of Gamboni directly following a Tiger interception.

Senior class departs

For Corona, the loss caps a stellar three-year football career at SLO High, during which he threw for 56 touchdowns — 38 this season — and ran for 25 more.

The University of Washington baseball commit was one of the top-five passers in the Central Section this season, throwing for 2,413 yards entering Friday.

Corona isn’t the only senior that will be missed. Twenty-two other seniors will be lost to graduation, including all four top receivers, linebackers Christian Clegg, Wyatt Engdahl and safeties Andrew Edmonds and Seth Wampler.

Each senior had a hand in turning the program around over the past two seasons, which posted 0-10 and 2-8 records in the 2016 and 2017 seasons, respectively.

However, San Luis Obispo will return several key pieces in dominant lineman Thomas Cole, who had five and half sacks against Madera last week, lineman Christian Jones and corner Landon Nelson.

What’s next

Bakersfield Christian (9-3) will play Central Valley Christian (9-4), which upset No. 1-seeded Kingsburg in the quarterfinals last week before taking down Golden West 18-16 in the semifinal.

This story was originally published November 22, 2019 at 10:49 PM.