FULLERTON -- It was a season to remember for the Pioneer football team, as it captured the school's first CIF Southern Section and CIF regional titles. However, the Titans did not have the fairytale ending they hoped for in the CIF State Division 7-A championship game Saturday afternoon.
Pioneer was simply outmatched against Balboa, as the CIF San Francisco Section Division AAA champions ran away with the win 55-27 at Fullerton High to claim the state title for the Northern California representatives.
The Titans faced a 41-0 deficit with two minutes left in the second quarter before a 47-yard touchdown throw from quarterback Amiri Resendiz to Steven Roman gave Pioneer some juice heading into the second half.
Pioneer outscored Balboa 19-7 in the second half to somewhat lessen the pain of the loss for the Titans.
Resendiz threw for over 130 yards and four touchdowns with one interception.
After the game, the senior captain reflected on the journey he went through at Pioneer, which included a 1-9 freshman campaign.
"It's been a rough road, but at the end there was a bright light," Resendiz said. "Freshman year we went 1-9 and now we're here at 10-6. It's really memorable, the whole community is proud of what we have done. First time in history that Pioneer has won a (CIF-SS) championship and a regional championship. I'm kinda bummed we didn't win, but still proud of me and my team."
Pioneer head coach Ramon Juarez said he was proud of his team's effort.
"We played all the way to the end of the fourth quarter and tried to make it a little closer," Juarez said. "It just shows that our kids never quit and that's the main thing we tried to push across. I just knew they were gonna come out and fight in the second half...and they did."
Balboa jumped out to a 14-0 lead in the first quarter thanks to an explosive rushing attack that Pioneer couldn't contain.
On Pioneer's first offensive possession, the Titans started out by picking up two first downs on back-to-back plays, but weren't able to finish the drive with a score. They turned the ball over on downs inside Balboa territory.
It was indicative of what was to come from the Titans' offense in the first half as they couldn't sustain a drive until Resendiz's 47-yard touchdown throw with 2:05 left in the half.
The second half saw Pioneer's offense kick into another gear. The Titans opened the half with a long drive that resulted in a 16-yard touchdown catch from Pioneer receiver Jose Rojas.
Rojas hauled in another touchdown late in the game.
"It felt awesome," Rojas said of his two TD catches. "I was stressing a little bit because I was getting triple-teamed the whole game. I caught two touchdowns, two big ones for our team, and I'm happy with that."
Resendiz threw three of his four passing touchdowns in the second half, including two in the fourth quarter,
Balboa running back Joseph Smith had over 200 total yards and four touchdowns.