Centennial football team routed by Santa Margarita in Division 1 title game

PASADENA — Centennial football coach Matt Logan did not try to spin things Friday night.

“They kicked our (butt) all night,” Logan said about the Huskies’ 42-7 loss to Santa Margarita in the CIF Southern Section’s Division 1 championship game played at Rose Bowl Stadium.

USC-bound wide receiver Trent Mosley scorched Centennial’s defense early and often, as he caught 10 passes for 292 yards while scoring four total touchdowns. Santa Margarita’s defense was equally impressive Friday, holding the Huskies to less than 150 yards and registering seven sacks.

The 35-point margin of victory is the second-most lopsided Southern Section playoff loss for Centennial since Logan took over in 1997. The only one worse was a 52-14 loss to St. John Bosco back in 2019.

“We clearly weren’t ready to play, and unfortunately it’s 100% on me as a coach,” Logan said. “I wish we could’ve competed better. I know we’re capable of that. It just didn’t happen today.”

Mosley was sidelined with an injury when Santa Margarita beat Centennial 33-27 in overtime earlier this season. But his skills are well-known to the Huskies, as Mosley had 11 catches for 202 yards in last year’s 31-15 victory over Centennial.

And Mosley got to work early Friday.

Centennial (11-2) went three-and-out on the opening drive of the game, and Santa Margarita took possession on its 28. Trace Johnson fired a quick pass to Mosley, who turned the play into a 65-yard gain. Mosley caught another pass for 5 yards, then ran 2 yards for a touchdown.

Centennial moved the ball well on the ensuing drive, but the Huskies ultimately turned the ball over on downs at the Santa Margarita 10. Mosley caught two short passes, but Johnson then went over the top of Centennial’s defense and connected with Mosley on an 80-yard scoring play.

“He reminds me so much of Makhai Lemon at USC,” Logan said. “His speed is phenomenal.”

Centennial’s defense eventually made some stops, and the Huskies then took advantage of a short field and cut the deficit in half on Zander Lewis’ 14-yard run with 7:11 left to halftime.

Santa Margarita (10-3) had an answer or two before halftime, however. Johnson found Luke Gazzaniga over the middle on a 33-yard touchdown play with 3:06 left, and Johnson connected with Ryan Clark on a 26-yard touchdown pass with 25 seconds showing to extend the lead to 28-7.

Centennial needed some kind of spark to start the second half, and the defense provided one when Keawe Browne forced a fumble that was recovered by JD McKinley. The Huskies were unable to capitalize, however, as they turned the ball over on downs at the Santa Margarita 7.

Mosley then delivered the knockout blow, turning another screen pass into a 91-yard touchdown play.

The fourth quarter was played with a running clock after Ca’ron Williams intercepted a pass from Dominick Catalano and Mosley scored again with 38 seconds left in the third period.

“They came out here and played like they wanted it more than us,” Catalano said. “This was a bit of a weird week for us leading up to the game. I think we still had last week’s win against Mater Dei in our heads, and we let things get to us tonight. There’s no real excuse for that.

“As bad as the first half went, we went into the locker room believing we could still win it. Eventually, the situation became pretty clear at the end. Things just didn’t work for us tonight.”

Catalano was under constant pressure from Santa Margarita’s defensive front from start to finish. Isaia Vandermade finished the night with three sacks and Dash Fifita, Leki Holani and Vai Manutai were also in Centennial’s backfield and disrupting plays throughout the evening.

“They dominated the line of scrimmage,” Santa Margarita coach Carson Palmer said about his team’s defensive line. “I think when we go back and look at the film, we’re going to see them on their side of the ball and that’s something that we were hoping to accomplish.”

The ending was a rough one for Centennial, but this season’s team helped the program return to the section finals for the first time in 10 years.

“We had a lot of challenges thrown at us throughout the year,” Catalano said. “We had a lot of players on this team that were starting for the first time. We had a bunch of guys step up this season and prove some of the doubters wrong. It still was a great season.”