Serra just shy of a miracle

On a night that saw the surprise return of quarterback Daylin McLemore for the first time since suffering a broken collarbone Oct. 26, and a late rally after trailing by 21 to get a shot at tying the game with less than a minute to go, Serra ultimately fell 35-27 to Corona del Mar-Newport Beach in the CIF Division 1-A State Championship Bowl Saturday at Cerritos College.

“This team has just showed so much resiliency all year long,” Padres head coach Patrick Walsh said. “We lose our quarterback ... Week 8, and the team just continues to push and play for one another. … They grew up, they matured this year. And I was so proud of that effort, and not surprised it came down to the last possession.”

McLemore enjoyed a fast start, supplanting sophomore quarterback Dom Lampkin. Serra’s first play from scrimmage was a crazy, two-backward pass trick play — that looked like something out of Henry Winkler’s playbook from the movie “The Waterboy” — finding slot receiver Nate Sanchez for a 20-yard pickup. McLemore went on to lead a drive that had the Serra sideline buzzing, a 10-play, 80-yard scoring march.

But Corona del Mar senior quarterback Ethan Garbers answered fast and furious.

Garbers eclipsed the 5,000-yard passing mark for the season, going 28-of-41 for 255 yards and four touchdowns. He added 15 rushes for 142 yards to account for 397 of Corona del Mar’s 483 total yards.

The gem of Garbers’ day came near the end of the third quarter after a McLemore punt pinned Corona del Mar to its own 1-yard line. The Sea Kings had their backs up against the wall, facing third-and-6 from the 5 with Garbers getting pressured in the end zone. But with two Serra rushers bearing down on him, he unloaded an 8-yard completion to tight end Mark Redman for a first-down.

It was the first of five straight first-downs, with Bradley Schlom scoring on a 1-yard catch to cap a 10-play, 99-yard drive, giving Corona del Mar a 28-14 lead.

“That 99-yard drive is what will go down as the difference in the game,” Walsh said. “Daylin being Daylin, pins the ball inside the 1-yard line with a magnificent quarterback punt. And, you know what? That showed championship pedigree. They went 99 yards to win the game, and that was the difference in the game.”

But the tone of the game changed at the start of the fourth quarter when McLemore got drilled by a Corona defender after running out of bounds. Corona del Mar was levied with a late-hit penalty. A dustup on the Serra sideline saw several players pushing and shoving. It was also the last time McLemore would see the field after reaggravating the left shoulder injury that forced him to miss the previous six games.

“Luckily the major part of the blow was on his right shoulder,” Walsh said. “The force of his put him out on his left shoulder. And it really just got to the point for him, he looked at me and I looked at him, and the pain was just too much to bear at that point.”

Corona del Mar added on, with Garbers connecting with senior receiver John Humphreys for a 7-yard score with 5:12 to go, putting Serra in a 35-14 hole.

Then Lampkin emerged to rally the Padres back from the abyss.

“Dom jumped in there,” Walsh said. “We sputtered early and then he just went all Dom.”

With Serra taking over at its own 31, Lampkin dashed fearlessly for a 12-yard pickup with Corona del Mar incurring a 15-yard late-hit penalty at the end of the run.

“He never backs down,” Walsh said. “He’s a sophomore, he’s got tons to learn. We call him Steamin’ Willie Beaman (from the movie ‘Any Given Sunday’) for a reason. … If we can match technique and understanding, the pass game and running the football, he’s going to be a dangerous weapon for a number of years.”

Lampkin would close the night with two late touchdown passes. Four plays after the late-hit penalty knocking out McLemore put Serra past midfield, Lampkin connected with Sanchez for a 20-yard touchdown pass.

A blocked point-after try by Corona del Mar junior Hunter Schimmelpfennig followed. But when Serra senior Will Mauer recovered the ensuing onside kick, the Padres started to believe they could stage a miraculous comeback.

“We felt down at first,” Serra senior Marcellus Eison said. “But on the onside kick, that’s when we started to light up again. That’s when we saw ourselves in this game again. After that, you saw that last drive, that’s just pure heart, pure brotherhood right there.”

First came the penultimate drive. Lampkin opened with a 25-yard scramble. Two plays later, the sophomore aired it out for senior Matt Rollandi for a 30-yard score.

“We were just trying to play fast,” Rollandi said. “We’ve been a fast team all year. When we got that touchdown, it showed we could really keep going with this. We didn’t want to get too far ahead of ourselves though. We had to stay humble. We just stayed focused and just kept playing till the next play. We just did what we had to do.”

After a Corona del Mar three-and-out, Serra took over at its own 13-yard line. Lampkin completed three straight passes of 14, 8 and 15 yards. Then after receptions of 17 and 12 yards by senior Terence Loville (six catches, 172 yards and two touchdowns), Serra was looking at first-and-10 from the Corona del Mar 20 with 15 seconds to go.

But two plays later, Corona del Mar junior Tommy Griffin nabbed an interception in the end zone to deny Serra its miracle comeback.

Walsh said the key to the spirited finish was his team getting refocused after the emotional scene upon losing McLemore, one that nearly erupted into a melee between both teams on the Serra sideline.

After Walsh and Corona del Mar head coach Dan O’Shea had a face-to-face talk along the Serra sideline like opposing war generals, then each huddled their teams together to settle the brewing storm, Serra got back to the business at hand.

“I just didn’t want this team to be remembered for chaos and things that — backing up our player, I get all that — so I was proud of it,” Walsh said. “It ended up being one of the things I was proud of the most, overcoming straight teenage angst to put ourselves back into a game with a chance to win a championship. It says more about them than anything else that happened tonight.”