Serra can’t deny Riordan’s destiny

Playing in the hybrid Open Division/Division I bracket, No. 2-seed Serra (7-4) will be back on the field this coming week for a chance to play for a CCS title of its own. The Padres will return to Jaguar Stadium to face No. 3 Los Gatos.

“Without having a week off, we’ve got to really lock in,” Serra defensive end Taupaki Latu said. “We can’t go out and party. We’ve got to have a strong mindset and just lock in.”

It was the No. 1-seed Crusaders (12-0) who were doing the partying Friday night, and with good reason. Head coach Adhir Ravapati’s team has run the table on the 2025 season with 12 straight wins, and celebrated the program’s second CCS title all-time. Riordan previously won 2007 CCS Medium School title.

Riordan rode big nights from their biggest stars. Senior quarterback Michael Mitchell Jr’s first two completions were touchdown passes, en route to totaling three TD throws amid his 11-for-23, 228-yard passing night. And junior workhorse running back Adonyae Brown carried 29 times for 158 yards and two scores.

The Crusaders came out swinging. On the game’s third play from scrimmage, senior receiver Perrion Williams (four catches, 135 yards) caught the ball on short screen, only to bob and weave through the Serra defense to break a 77-yard touchdown reception to make it 6-0 less than a minute into the game.

“It was blocked to perfection, and [Williams], he’s a good player,” Serra head coach Patrick Walsh said. “He’s got a lot of speed, and I think it was a good call. I think we were in a blitz call, and [Riordan] made the right call on that.”

Serra’s first possession cracked midfield, but not much more, before punting it away. With Riordan taking over at its own 20, it took just two more plays for Mitchell to hit senior Cynai Thomas on a post route up the left side for a picturesque 68-yard scoring strike, to up the lead to 13-0 just five minutes into the game.

But the Padres responded by finding some traction on offense, and making a game of it before halftime.

“We’re fighters,” Walsh said. “Serra’s always been a program where we’re going to battle. And they went up early on us 13-0, and that doesn’t surprise me that we came back with our toughness and our fight. And I was proud of our guys for doing that and hanging in there the entire game.”

With junior Malakai Taufoou taking over under center in the Raider formation, the hard-nosed quarterback went into rugby mode for a pair of gutsy keepers through the middle of 17 and 19 yards. Serra advanced it into the red zone before turning the ball over on downs, but when the Padres’ defense forced a three-and-out, the offense capitalized.

The deep punt saw Serra take over at the Crusaders’ 40-yard line, queueing it up for freshman quarterback William Orr. Serra offensive coordinator Darius Bell said he had to switch to Orr and the pro-style passing game because of the two-score deficit.

“Because we were down,” Bell said. “At that point, with Riordan’s high offense, you’ve got to score points. The idea was to ... try to control the clock. That wasn’t really working. So, at that point, you’re down 14-0 ... you’ve got to get something going.”

Taufoou talked his way into the rotation

Taufoou finished with four carries for 39 yards, but he wouldn’t have even seen the field on offense if Bell had his way. The thought going into the week was to use Taufoou exclusively on defense, since the junior anchors the team at the safety position. Taufoou had already left it all on the field in the Nov. 7 regular-season finale — a 42-35 loss to Riordan — by being on the field for 97 plays both sides of the ball.

“We actually tried to take him off this week,” Bell said, “and he had a meeting with us coaches, and said: ‘Coach, I need to be on the field.’ And when your best player tells you that, you put him on the field. ... The thought was keep him on defense, keep him healthy, but ... when you have a player of his stature, telling you: ‘coach, I need to be in the game,’ sometimes you listen.”

The junior’s presence in the Raider package was reminiscent of another former Serra two-way great, Danny Niu, who in the 2022 CCS Open Division championship at Jaguar Field famously jumpstarted Serra’s offense to break a 7-7 halftime tie, breaking a rugby-style bolt through the middle for a long touchdown run. The Padres would go on to win that 2022 CCS title game 41-14.

Serra was looking for a similar magic Friday against Riordan.

“[Taufoou] is one our leaders, a junior, but he’s clearly one of the best players on our team on both sides of the ball,” Walsh said. “And when he comes in to that double-wing package, he does a great job of bringing the energy and moving the football.”

Orr gets Padres on the board

The Padres, however, went back to their freshman quarterback, and got quick results. Upon reentering, Orr used his first completion to hit the 3-3-3 jackpot — spreading three receivers to the left, three receivers to the right, then hitting No. 3 Iziah Singleton over the middle — with Singleton trucking for a 40-yard score to cut the score to 13-7 early in the second half.

But the Crusaders had one more push in them before the break. Serra punter Saul Marks swung the field with a booming punt and an impressive roll for 63 net yards. With Riordan taking over at its own 22, Brown went to work, bulling for runs of 5, 9 and 15 yards before a 27-yard pass from Mitchell to Williams moved it to the Serra 3. Then Brown blasted through the middle for a 3-yard touchdown, making it 19-7.

Serra glimpsed some two-minute magic prior to the half, taking over near midfield on a short kickoff. Then a 23-yard reverse to junior Charlie Walsh moved it to the Crusaders’ 23. ON the next play, however, Orr forced a pass over the middle, and had it intercepted by junior Ronald Hargraves to send it to the half 19-7.

Second-half coronation for Crusaders

The second half was all Riordan.

A Serra three-and-out to start the half put the Crusaders back on the attack, and Brown slammed his way seven carries on a 14-play, 63-yard scoring drive, capped by a 4-yard scoring toss from Mitchell to Thomas (three catches, 93 yards).

The Padres got the score back early in the fourth quarter riding junior Andrew Takapautolo’s first three carries of the night, including a 1-yard score to cut the deficit to 26-13. But after the Crusaders got the score back on Brown’s 4-yard scoring run with 5:52 to play, the purple and gold put the game away on Serra’s next play from scrimmage, when Thomas, pulling double duty at cornerback, made his finest haul of the night by running down a long pass with a diving, one-handed grab for the interception.

Riordan outgained Serra 442-227 in total offense.

For Ravipati, the win marks his third CCS title all-time. He also won two at Menlo-Atherton, both in the Open Division I bracket, in 2016 and ’18.