Warriors take Lake title

Moro has called the South City campus home since the 1970s, graduating from the school in 1982 before starting his coaching career in 1985 as an assistant on Mike Tenerowicz’s staff. Moro took over the program from Ben White in 2003. He stepped down after the 2013 season but returned last year to bring South City’s football program back from the abyss, after the school did not field a varsity team in 2021.

With the program mired in a multi-season losing streak dating back to 2018, Moro last year oversaw the snapping of the streak at 26 games. This year, serving as an assistant coach on Kolone Pua’s varsity staff, Moro was integral to the Warriors running the table in Peninsula Athletic League Lake Division play. With Friday’s win, South City clinched the Lake Division championship outright, finishing off a perfect 7-0 league record.

“It means a lot,” Pua said of Moro’s legacy. “If it wasn’t for him, we wouldn’t have continued on with the season last year. But he came back, and I came back with the boys, and we just kept it going. If it wasn’t for him, there wouldn’t have been a season this year because he’s the one that stepped up.”

South City senior Darren Miller got the night started right with a 93-yard touchdown return on the opening kickoff. It was one of several kickoff returns to the house for Miller this season, but his first to open a game, and a new season high.

It has been four years since Miller joined the South City football program. He remembers full well the start of his freshman year when no one showed up for summer workouts. Miller has known Moro his whole life. His father David graduated from South City in 1991 and played football during Moro’s years as assistant coach. Miller’s older brother David Jr., who graduated in 2016, played for Moro as head coach.

Miller said there was a sudden shift in the culture from the moment Moro stepped back onto the field last year.

“Everybody has got that dawg in them really trying to get to it now,” Miller said. “Freshman year, we were just playing to play. Now we’ve got a purpose to play. We’re playing to win. It’s still the same guys, we’ve just got a purpose now. … They came with a winning attitude, and we just had to adapt to it.”

Miller’s game-opening return was a perilous looking reception, with a line drive kick being touched by two different South City players before the top spin carried it through to the 7-yard line, where Miller had trouble getting a handle on it. Once he secured the ball, however, he broke two tackles and made a dash to the end zone.

“At first I thought [Justice Goodman] had it, then it went over his head, and it went over [Matthew Adisewojo’s],” Miller said. “I was just right there, so I just grabbed it and just took off.”

Things got easier for the Warriors from there. Much easier.

After Monta Vista (2-4, 3-6) turned the ball over on downs, South City needed three plays to move 60 yards for a score. Despite a 10-yard loss on a backward pass on first down, the Warriors got a third-down conversion and then some, with Miller taking a short pass from sophomore quarterback Anthony Howell and breaking a 64-yard touchdown reception to make it 14-0.

South City’s next four plays from scrimmage all went for touchdowns.

Payton Jackson broke a 65-yard run with less than a minute to go in the first quarter to make it 22-0. Then Elijah Fields went to town, scoring three straight TDs, starting with a 32-yard TD carry through the middle for a 30-0 lead. The first play of the next drive saw Fields take a pitch 34 yards around the left side for a score, for a 37-0 lead. Then with a running clock killing the last two minutes of the half, Fields broke free for a 60-yard scoring run on the final play before the break to send it into halftime 44-0.

“I just wish we had a more competitive game because my main guys, they only get to play the first half,” Pua said. “It’s been that way all year. My guys don’t really get to play four quarters. I think last week was the first time they got to play four quarters, and this was … Week 9, and they only get to play two quarters. … It’s hard to go four quarters when they’re not really used to it.”

South City out-gained the Matadors 278-107 in total yards. Fields finished the game with four carries for a game-high 132 yards and three touchdowns.

Fields said Moro has yet to announce his retirement to the team. The two have a special bond as Fields was one of the first players Moro recruited from PE class with the goal of reinstituting the program.

“I love him,” Fields said. “I love him to death. He’s a good coach. Last year he was stalking me kind of. That was in PE class, he told me to come down and try out for the team. So, I came and tried out.”

South City closes out the regular season Saturday, Nov. 4 at rival El Camino in non-league action. The Warriors have clinched their first postseason berth since 2012, and it is possible they could host a playoff game.