Paso Robles downs Newbury Park for Northern Division football title

Paso Robles was the master of the mud, and now the Bearcats are adding another trophy to the case.

Paso Robles (13-1) toppled second-seeded Newbury Park 13-10 on a goopy field at War Memorial Stadium on Friday night to win the CIF-Southern Section Northwest Division title, the first division championship for the program since 2000 and the eighth in school history.

The playing surface was in decent shape in the day leading up to the game, but in the two hours before kickoff, a storm rolled through and left standing water all over the natural grass field at Flamson Middle School.

The resulting sludge seemed the perfect environment for the Bearcats while the speedy Panthers offense was left stuck and spinning its tires.

“It’s been raining here all week,” Bearcats senior tight end Jonathan Baldwin said. “Our practice field looks just like this. It’s experience, I guess. Practice makes perfect.”

Baldwin felt destined to be a part of a championship team. He said his grandfather and uncle were each on title-winning teams for the Bearcats, who won CIF section rings in 1951, 1952, 1953 and 1974 before a three-peat from 1998-2000.

Though Bailey Gaither led the way, rushing for 206 yards of Paso Robles’ 308 yards of total offense, Baldwin made one of the biggest plays of the game, catching a 34-yard touchdown on a fourth-down play-action pass that caught the Newbury Park defensive backfield napping. Why not? The Bearcats had been cramped into a triple I-back jumbo formation for most of the first half, Paso Robles’ answer to losing three of its top running backs to injury and the sloppy conditions.

“We were waiting for that one,” Baldwin said of the touchdown catch. “They were expecting us to run in that formation. It was kind of a trick play.”

The Bearcats will now await Sunday’s assignments for the CIF Southern California regional bowl games, where Paso Robles is favored to face Lakeside El Capitan of the San Diego Section for the right to play for a Division III state championship.

But regardless of what follows, the celebration of the people that packed the stands and ringed the field could hardly have gotten any heartier. Paso Robles players rushed the field as the seconds ticked off the clock to kick off the raucous revelry.

“It means very much,” Jacob Stanko said. “We work way hard, way too hard for them to come down here and take it from us.

“It was won in the trenches. We outphysicaled them.”

Newbury Park’s previous season low was 27 points, and the Panthers (11-3) came into the game on a six-game winning streak where they averaged 49.5 points per game.

But the Panthers played each one of their games on artificial turf this season, and a passing game averaging 275 yards was limited to 199 yards and a single touchdown through the air.

Newbury Park senior receiver Darick Holmes, who’s headed to Arizona next fall, and his sophomore brother Darnay Holmes, whose high-profile scholarship offers include Notre Dame, totaled just five catches for 38 yards.

The most lauded player on the field, Panthers guard and 6-foot-4, 310-pound Oregon commit Zack Okun, looked dominant to start, but it was Stanko who made the play of the game among interior linemen.

With 3:39 left in the game and Newbury Park looking for the go-ahead score, Stanko batted down a pass at the line from Newbury Park quarterback Daniel Prieto on fourth-and-4 at the Panthers’ 40-yard line, giving the Bearcats back the ball and leaving Newbury Park with no timeouts left.

It was just the second pass deflection of the season for Stanko, who is listed at 5-10 and 250 pounds and opposed Okun for most of the game.

“He dropped back and I saw him there,” Stanko said. “He tried to throw a line drive. I just put my hand up hoping for the best.”

Paso Robles quarterback Justin Davis relayed similar sentiments about fielding snaps under center.

“I thought I had it handled, but it was muddy,” the junior said. “You’ve just got to keep your hands clean and hope for the best.”

The Bearcats fumbled the ball nine times, eight of which occurred during exchanges on the snap.

Three of the fumbles resulted in turnovers, two of which were charged to Davis. Gaither also lost on as Paso Robles was driving deep in Newbury Park territory with a 7-3 lead in the second half.

Davis’ 1-yard touchdown run with 7:22 left gave the Bearcats the lead after the Panthers moved ahead with a 13-yard touchdown pass from Prieto to Darick Holmes with six seconds left in the third quarter.

Davis’ final fumble gave Newbury Park the ball back at its own 37 with 2:45 left after Panthers captain Chucky Smith recovered the ball. The Bearcats then stuffed Smith on fourth-and-1 a few plays later to effectively end the game.

It was the second monster fourth-down stop by Paso Robles. The Bearcats also stuffed Newbury Park on fourth-and-4 from the Paso Robles 6-yard line in the first half.

That stop made the difference. Newbury Park got a later 32-yard field goal from kicker Dario Longhetto to take a 3-0 lead in the second quarter but had to regret not attempting the earlier field-goal attempt in what turned out to be a three-point loss.

This story was originally published December 5, 2014 at 11:36 PM with the headline "Paso Robles downs Newbury Park for Northern Division football title."