Palos Verdes Crushes Twelve Bridges in CIF State Championship Game (2024)

Mission Viejo – Saddleback College Stadium

Mission Viejo – The Palos Verdes football team earned the final crowning jewel of its season, beating Twelve Bridges of Lincoln 55-19 on Saturday at Saddleback College for its first-ever state championship in team history.

From the opening kickoff, the Sea Kings were ready to play, as they finished the game by scoring on every position. Sophomore quarterback Ryan Rakowski finished with 353 passing yards, 6 passing touchdowns and 41 rushing yards.

The Rhinos’ best chance to score in the first half came at the beginning of the second quarter where they had the ball on the Sea Kings’ 15 yard line on a fourth and five. But Palos Verdes snuffed out the attempted run in wildcat formation.

Twelve Bridges struggled to move the ball, after that drive, as the Sea Kings’ defense held its offense to 106 yards and only six first downs in the first half. Palos Verdes on the other hand had 286 offensive yards and 12 first downs.

After the Sea Kings scored off Rakowski touchdown to Joey Koyama, the Rhinos marched down the field and found the endzone, as Connor Flaherty got hit as threw, but found Will Gant for a touchdown pass in the red zone with Gant catching the ball as he was falling down.

Palos Verdes answered, as Rakowski found Koyama for the duo’s third touchdown, as they never looked back after that. Evan Aguirre everyone in receiving yards with 101 and added one touchdown catch.

The Sea Kings finished the season 11-5, as they won the CIF-SS Division 5 championship over La Serna. Gardner said that their non-league games and playing in the Bay League prepared them well for this year’s extended postseason run.

“We’re in a real tough league and we had to make things happen. I’m really proud of these guy on their effort,” Gardner said.