Look: St. John Bosco beats Corona Centennial 43-42 in wild finish to California football playoff game
One of the wildest games in recent CIF Southern Section playoff history ended with an eight-second sequence that was as crazy as the first 47:52.
The end result was St. John Bosco holding on for a fantastic 43-42 CIF Southern Section Division I semifinal home win.
On 4th-and-goal from the 1, Centennial senior running back Cornell Hatcher scored — with one final push — closing the Huskies to within a point and eight seconds remaining.
The Huskies (9-3) went for the win, but junior quarterback Husan Longstreet slipped in the backfield after faking an inside handoff to Hatcher. He was sacked by three Bosco defenders, including Dutch Horisk and Jordan Lockhart, setting off a big raucous celebration that drew a 15-yard penalty.
Centennial recovered a perfectly executed onside kick, giving the Huskies not one, but two more chances from the Bosco 43. Longsteet's first-down pass was deflected, leaving three seconds on the clock. On second down he was immediately smashed from two sides by a huge Bosco rush. He jack-knifed but never went down.
In the meantime, many of the Braves on the field sprinted off the field and those on the sideline rushed onto the field to celebrate. Longstreet looked around and was encouraged by his linemen to sprint for the end zone. He did, but the referees had ruled him either down or his motion stopped.
Ball game.
There was no formal handshake line as both sides seemed a little heated, but cooler heads eventually prevailed.
It was a long, back-and-forth thriller that featured six touchdown passes from Bosco's Caleb Sanchez and 221 yards rushing by Hatcher. Longstreet accounted for nearly 350 yards.
St. John Bosco will now play familiar foe Mater Dei, a 42-14 winner over previously unbeaten Sierra Canyon.
Check it all out via the NFHS Network above.
