‘We go to war with anybody’: McClymonds fends off Roseville to win NorCal title

OAKLAND — Coach MIchael Peters wanted their hype song. So he yelled to the music man to play it this brisk Saturday night. Moments later, the sound of “Keep It on Me” by Oakland rapper YID blasted throughout the field at McClymonds High.

After beating Roseville 42-34 to win their first CIF regional championship since 2022, the Warriors earned the right to turn up.

They bounced with the first four lines of the song, waiting for their moment to declare their mantra. When it came, they became a choir of hyphy energy.

“We go to war with anybody!” 

Yeah, that’s the vibe they wanted. Chip on the shoulder. McClymonds against the world.

“Tell them we’re just a poor, little team from Oakland, though,” Peters said. “We ain’t got cameras on the sideline. We ain’t got none of that. But they forgot, we done been here before. It’s always great for the city, you know, every time we get a chance to go represent. That’s what we do. You know what I’m saying, you hear this song.”

McClymonds (11-2) will face the Kennedy-Delano Thunderbirds (11-3) in the state Championship game on December 13 at Fullerton UHSD stadium at 7 p.m.

Championships don’t come easy, as the Warriors learned just a year ago when in the same position. They squandered a 33-22 fourth-quarter lead in the 2024 CIF NorCal Division 3-AA championship. Amador Valley scored 22 straight points late to beat McClymonds.

It was a bit of poetic justice.

After a season of fighting to get back, they found themselves in a familiar place: clinging to a late fourth-quarter lead.

It started swimmingly. After McClymonds senior quarterback Berell Staples scrambled to the end zone to give the Warriors a 42-20 lead. But by the clock crossed four minutes to go in the fourth quarter, a nervousness swept over the crowd in West Oakland. Because Roseville recovered its second onside kick in a row.

“That hurt us,” Peters said about the onside kicks. “It’s something we’ve got to work on. But that’s a great ball club over there. We saw the last couple games were close for them, and we knew we gotta play four quarters.”

The Warriors’ three-score lead with nine minutes remaining was down to eight points. One score and Roseville could tie the game.

So McClymonds had no choice but to exorcise their demons and hold on.

The Warriors forced Roseville into a third-and-long situation. But Tigers quarterback Mason Susnara found one of his weapons, senior receiver JJ Oreste Yong, for 17 yards to the McClymonds 33-yard-line.

Roseville wasn’t going away.

Another third down, another chance for McClymonds to get a stop. This time, a pass deflection by junior cornerback Noah Bonner sent Roseville to fourth down. Prince Staton made sure it was the final play of the game, breaking up a pass intended for Tigers senior wideout Garren Graciani. The turnover on downs meant it was time for the Warriors to turn up.

“We go to war with anybody!”