12 SPORTSDEC. 21, 2012

Iliad

ADAM PETERSON Staff Writer

Football: Titans attempt to execute their plays against Oceanside and Jonathan Peterson gains yardage. The Pirates defeated the Titans 32 to 10 at the CIF championship game. NATE BROWN AND JAWAN AQIL// The Iliad

MAURA DUGGAN Staff Writer

Pirates force Titans to walk the plank Girls XC takes seven to state

After a strong third-place fi nish in CIF, the Poway Girls’ Cross Country team continued on to State with their top runners.

The statewide meet, held in Fresno, Calif., Admitted only the top-placing teams and their seven fastest runners.

After a slow start in league, Poway pulled through towards the end of the season, largely because of the efforts of top runners Sophie Smith, Jill Godfrey and Christie Ackley, who all placed in the top 120 at state.

Junior Sophie Smith carried the team with a fi fth place fi nish in league, and a seventh place fi nish at CIF.

“I think we defi nitely improved a lot throughout the season,” Smith said, following her 63rd place fi nish at state. Smith ran the 5000m race in 18:58.00, a personal best.

Other Titan qualifi ers include Amanda Bauer, Savannah Santiago, Hannah Schwartz and Kaitlyn Umsted. “We had a very well-rounded team with many different strengths. We trained a lot before state, and I think it really paid off in the end,” sophomore Jill Godfrey said.

The state meet was won by Sarah Baxter, a freshman from Simi Valley High School, who ran a personal best of 16:40.00.

Overall, Poway came in 16th place as a team. Though young, the team has proven to be extremely successful. All seven runners will be returning next year for another season, in which they hope to have an even stronger fi nish.

“I am really looking forward to next season. I think we continue to improve and possibly place even higher at the next state meet,” Smith said.

It was a long and tough season for the Titans, but all their hard work resulted in a second consecutive trip to the CIF title game.

After eliminating Westview and Helix, Poway lost to the Oceanside Pirates, 32 to 10.

Poway’s defense hung tough for most of the fi rst half, and it appeared that Oceanside’s lead would only be 3 points at halftime.

Unfortunately, Oceanside quarterback Tofi Paopao dashed those hopes by leading his team on an 80-yard scoring drive with just over a minute to play in the fi rst half.

“That was a huge momentum shift in the game,” Coach Damian Gonzalez said.

The Titans never recovered from the

incident, failing to score during the entire second half.

On the other hand, Oceanside continued to score, widening the point gap between the two teams.

Despite the loss, there were still some highlights for Poway. Running back Brandon Lucas raced 80 yards for a touchdown near the end of the fi rst half and running back Nehemiah Gross gained 73 yards on the ground on 22 carries.

Also, receiver Derek Babiash caught two passes for 68 yards.

Poway’s defense just could not contain the 6-1, 200 pound Paopao. He was able to elude tacklers all night, buy time for his receivers to get open, and hurl the ball downfi eld to them. It was an extremely frustrating night for the Titan defense.

“Paopao had great pocket presence, almost like Ben Roethlisberger, and was able to evade our pass rush all game

long,” Lineman Hamid Isfahani said. “They were able to turn broken plays into touchdowns.”

The disappointing result of the game will not ruin the great season that the team had. Coach Gonzalez will remember it fondly, particularly the departing seniors.

“We had a great group of seniors who had stellar careers at Poway High. Their success on and off the fi eld will not be forgotten,” Gonzalez said.

The seniors will leave a hole in the roster that will be tough to fi ll next year. The team will have to hope that this year’s crop of juniors can fi ll the void and that the junior varsity team will send up some talented players.

“We are going to lose a lot of valuable players next year, but we are putting in hard work this offseason to make sure that we are back in the playoffs next year,” quarterback Max Washam said.

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