Fourth-Quarter Rally Comes Up Short, Rustlers Fall 28-27 in State Championship Final

COSTA MESA – Golden West College battled until the final seconds but ultimately came up short in a heartbreaking 28-27 loss to visiting College of San Mateo in the 3C2A State Championship on Saturday at Orange Coast College's LeBard Stadium.

The Rustlers trailed 21-7 at halftime and were down 28-7 heading into the fourth quarter before the offense finally came alive while the Golden West defense shut down the Bulldogs to do its part towards an impressive late-game rally.

Aaron Mitchell scored the second of his three rushing touchdowns in the contest at the 14:25 mark in the fourth to break up a 21-point San Mateo scoring run. His 17-yard run closed out an 11-play, 80-yard drive led by quarterback Kauna'oa Kamakawiwo'ole.

The GWC defense followed that up by forcing a CSM punt after just three plays. Starting from his own seven-yard line, Kamakawiwo'ole orchestrated another long drive, this time going 93 yards over seven plays. Dom Thompson hauled in a 49-yard reception that led to Mitchell's third TD, a four-yard scamper, to cut the San Mateo advantage to 28-21 with 9:23 to go.

The two squads exchanged possessions over the remaining minutes until the Rustlers got the ball back one final time with just 56 seconds left on the clock.

Starting on the GWC 25-yard line, Kamakawiwo'ole  tossed a 12-yard pass to Thompson and followed that with a 19-yarder to Ayden Goodwin to get the Rustlers in CSM territory. On the next play, Kamakawiwo'ole found JD Alicea deep down the middle. Alicea sliced through the San Mateo secondary and broke through for a 44-yard touchdown to bring Golden West within one point, 28-27, with 33 seconds left to play.

Rustlers' head coach Nick Mitchell elected to go for a potential game-winning two-point conversion instead of attempting a PAT kick to possibly send the game to overtime.

It was a gutsy call by Mitchell that unfortunately didn't pay off. Kamakawiwo'ole rolled right out of the pocket towards the sideline but his hurried pass to Goodwin near the end zone fell incomplete to set off a San Mateo celebration.

Golden West's onside kick after the play was recovered by the Rustlers, but the ball failed to advance 10 yards, giving possession to the Bulldogs. CSM kneeled the ball down on the next play to run out the clock and secure the Bulldogs' second straight state championship as well as their third state title over the past four years.

Kamakawiwo'ole had a rough opening half but ended the game completing 24 of 41 passes for 320 yards with a touchdown but four costly interceptions.

After losing top receiver Tanner Schmidt in the game's opening series to injury, Thompson picked up the slack and hauled in 10 catches for 132 yards. Mitchell ran in for 3 TDs and totaled 37 yards on 8 carries.

Brandon Soleau led the defense with 11 tackles and Josh Clark totaled 10 tackles and was in on a sack.

Golden West wrapped up its finest season in school history with a 12-1 overall record. The Rustlers advanced to the state championship final for the first time after capturing its first-ever Southern California championships. Golden West ended the regular season with a perfect 10-0 record and won the SCFA National Central League championship.