Serrano snatches CIF-Southern Section Division 8 title game victory in thrilling fashion

Payton Cornell picked a memorable moment for his first passing attempt of the CIF-Southern Section Division 8 playoffs as he connected with Tanner Chaffee on an 81-yard touchdown that clinched the Division 8 Championship for the Serrano football team against Buena on Saturday.

Cornell did not attempt a pass during the playoffs after suffering an ankle injury at the end of the regular season. Chaffee, usually a receiver, took over at quarterback before the playoffs and played all but four snaps under center in the championship game.

The four snaps he played at receiver ended up being the four biggest snaps of the game. After three rushing attempts, Cornell threw up a jump-ball to Chaffee, who ripped the ball out of the defensive backs hands and glided down the field for the touchdown.

“Payton is a great player, a great great player,” Chaffee said after the win. “And he’s only a junior, so we will see what he can do next year.”

The 81-yard touchdown connection gave the Diamondbacks the lead with 21.2 seconds left to play. Cornell knew the significance of the moment and knew where he was throwing the ball to give Serrano its first lead of the entire game.

“I was thinking ‘our team really needs this right now,” Cornell said. “The team really looks up to me, so I have to step in there in a leader position. To step in there at quarterback for the first time in four, five weeks and throw a pass — I just knew I had to connect. I had my favorite receiver Tanner. It’s great. I just had to make the connection one last time.”

Chaffee had no inkling beforehand that the Diamondbacks would turn back to Cornell under center. He first thought it was possible when he warmed up with Cornell on the sideline during a timeout and knew once Cornell was in the game what the plan was.

“I knew coach’s plan was to get a first down and then take a shot, and it worked,” Chaffee said.

Serrano head coach Casey Maholchic and his staff discussed the possibility of putting Cornell back at quarterback during a big moment in the playoffs. Still, it was not necessary until Saturday night. It was a gutsy call to put him in after several weeks and is a decision for which he gives full credit to his coaching staff.

“We’ve been talking about [using Cornell], but I want to give a lot of kudos to my offensive coordinator for being real patient with the game,” Maholchic said. “He pulled an ace out of his pocket there at the end and took a shot and stuck it.”

Entering halftime with a 14-7 deficit, the Serrano offense made a key adjustment that helped slowly turn the momentum in their favor. Maholchic said that the offense wanted to slow the game down to take the ball away from the explosive Buena offense. To accomplish that feat, Serrano started relying heavily on running back Rigo Cabral on half-back pitches.

After picking up several big gains with the pitch play the Diamondbacks were finally able to crack open the Buena defense with a 42-yard rushing touchdown by Cabral. Cabral finished with 160 rushing yards on 27 carries in the ball game.

“We just wanted to try to get a body on a body and do the best we can because they’re a lot quicker than us, and fortunately Rigo found some running room and some lanes and was able to squirt through.”

The Diamondbacks' goal of slowing down the game and thus slowing down the explosive Buena offense worked. Buena scored two touchdowns on its first two drives and could not find the endzone for the rest of the game. The Diamondbacks ran 60 plays on offense while Buena ran just 28 plays.

The Diamondbacks had to overcome significant roster turnover this season with only three returning starters from last year’s team. Before the season, Maholchic stressed that the team had to earn the Diamondbacks name on the front of their jerseys. After Saturday night’s heroic championship win, the Diamondbacks did just that.

“They will be remembered forever as CIF champs, and it is something that they can take for the rest of their lives and share with their kids,” Maholchic said. “But like I told these guys, this win is awesome, but this win is for the ghosts on the wall in our fieldhouse, and the only ones that understand that are all the guys wearing Serrano jerseys tonight.”

Serrano 21, Buena 14

Serrano 7 0 0 14 — 21

Buena 7 7 0 0 — 14

First quarter

B — Carter 4 run (Kick good)

S — Chaffee 6 run (Kick good)

Second quarter

B — Murphy 2 run (Kick good)

Fourth quarter

S — Cabral 42 run (Kick good)

S — Chaffee 81 pass from Cornell (Kick good)

This article originally appeared on Victorville Daily Press: Serrano snatches CIF-Southern Section Division 8 title game victory