Aragon football team hope to end Central Coast Section title drought

But one of these teams is not like the other. Of the four teams remaining, three have appeared in CCS finals and two have won CCS titles — in Serra and SHP’s cases, several section crowns.

The outlier? Aragon. Despite being a perennial Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division contender — winning division titles in 2001, 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006 and playing in the first three CCS Open Division playoff brackets — the Dons last appeared in a CCS final in 1998 and last won a CCS title in 1994, both under the legendary Britt Williams.

Since 1998, 13 of 19 county teams have either won a title or been in the championship game. While Menlo is still searching for its first-ever CCS title, the Knights have appeared in four championship games, dating to 2009, last making the championship game in 2017. But Jefferson appeared in a 1999 title game, San Mateo (2003) and Woodside (1999, 2004) have CCS championships under their belts. Sequoia made it to a final in 2011, Hillsdale went to the 2015 Division IV championship and Carlmont lost to Burlingame in the 2018 Division IV finale.

Aragon, meanwhile, has not advanced to a championship game in nearly a quarter of a century. The Dons have made the semifinals eight times since 2001, but had gone no further until this year.

All of which really means nothing to head coach Steve Sell, who was an assistant to Williams the last time the Dons appeared in the championship game. Sell knows this year’s team has nothing to do with teams’ successes or failures from five, 10, 15, 20 years ago. The only constant has been Sell.

“I try not to think about it. It’s easy to get caught up in that,” Sell said, who won his 150th game with last Friday’s 48-27 semifinal win over North Salinas.

“I try to keep it in perspective.”

But Sell is not an ogre. He recognizes that winning last Friday’s game was a big step for this season’s Dons’ squad and he wanted them to realize this was a special occasion.

“Friday night I congratulated [the team] on being the first team to go to the finals since 1998. I wanted them to really enjoy it. I didn’t want to let the moment pass. I wanted them to savor every win (this season). It was not, ‘This is no big deal.’ I wanted them to enjoy the next 24 hours,” Sell said. “After that, [Friday’s championship game] is just the next game.

“You just hope the players and the coaches — and myself — filter out that stuff and what it means and just worry about the task at hand.”

That task is defeating a St. Francis-Watsonville team that won its semifinal game, 56-35, over sixth-seeded Los Altos. The seventh-seeded Sharks (9-3) lost their first three games of the season before going on what is a now a nine-game winning streak, blasting through Pacific Coast Athletic League Santa Lucia Division opponents on their way to winning a division title. St. Francis averaged nearly 39 points scored while allowing less than 20 this season. The Sharks are averaging 47 points through two CCS playoff games.

The Dons, however, will have one, main concern: trying to contain St. Francis running back Johrdan Garibay, who has rushed for 1,362 yards, averaging nearly a first down per carry (9.5 yards) and 124 yards per game. He has scored 20 of the team’s 53 offensive touchdowns.

“They played in a ‘C’ league and they demolished everyone,” Sell said. “They run the ball as well as anyone we’ve played against this year.”

Aragon will counter with what Sell hopes is a three-pronged ground attack as he expect the return of Mone Hokafonu this week. Hokafonu had a 9-yard gain on the second play from scrimmage in the Dons’ 48-14 CCS-opening win over Andrew Hill two weeks ago before limping off the field with a leg injury. That kept him out of last week’s win over North Salinas, but Sell expects him to be full go Friday.

It’s just an added dimension to a backfield that also features junior Jared Walsh and sophomore Ivan Nisa, who has proven the varsity game is not too much for him.

But the biggest development and one that hope Sell can be the difference is the emergence of junior quarterback Dylan Daniel. Midway through the season, Sell wondered if Daniel was going to take that next step. Over the last two weeks, however, Daniel has developed into a weapon for which opposing defenses must now account. He was 3-for-4 70 yards against Andrew Hills before going off last week, completing 12-of-15 attempts for 212 yards and two touchdowns.

“He was the difference in the game (against North Salinas),” Sell said.

Daniel’s emergence is just the latest moment of satisfaction for Sell and this particular Dons’ team. Many of the seniors on this year’s squad were inexperienced sophomores when they were called up to play varsity to begin the 2019 season. The Dons got beat down in nearly every game that season, winning just one game and ending 2019 on a seven-game losing streak during which time they scored a combined 35 points.

COVID then wiped out the 2020 season and the 2021 spring season was just slightly better than 2019.

“These kids, in 2019, went through so much. We had to bring up every sophomore who could play at all. … But the kids hung in there,” Sell said. “I think the 2020 team was going to be really good. Then the pandemic hit and we lost some kids (to other sports and to transfers).

“I just felt like this group of kids was snakebit. I’ve been so focused on them enjoying so much success.”

Despite his attempts to downplay the opportunity in front of him and his team, Sell, at the end of the day, admitted winning a section title would be a huge accomplishment.

“For sure. Winning them with Britt, I’ll never forget that,” Sell said. “C’mon. Anyone who does this would like to win one.”

Sell and Dons will finally get that chance again 21 years later.