State champs! O’Dowd wins 5-AA title in dominant style
BUENA PARK — As the final seconds drained off the clock at Buena Park High, Bishop O’Dowd turned the brightly lit field into a celebration of Oakland pride.
The Dragons shouted “Welcome to the O!” toward the stands, dumped iced cold water on coach Hardy Nickerson and bellowed “Mission accomplished” and “Job is finished” as the scoreboard froze at 37-0.
Moments later, Drake and Future’s “Big Rings” blared from O’Dowd’s speakers. The perfect soundtrack for a night that ended with the East Oakland school lifting the CIF 5-AA state championship trophy.
Behind a dominant performance that triggered a running clock in the fourth quarter, O’Dowd shut out Christian-El Cajon to claim its first state title since 2016.
The Dragons’ championship run doubled as a rebuttal to every early-season doubt – from questions about a roster too young to a 1-3 start that threatened to derail the season.
But on a Friday night, the Dragons finished the season in emphatic, championship fashion.
“I’m just proud of this team, so proud of these young men,” Nickerson said. “They were dead in the water at 1-3, but the kids just kept buying in, kept working and kept coming to practice and things started to turn around. And now, here we are.”
Quarterback Christian Cermenelli-Johnson tossed two touchdown passes and Lamar Ellis ran for a score to lead the Oakland school to its second state championship. The Dragons also captured the 5-AA title in 2016.
“This feeling is just great,” Ellis said. “What a turn of events from where we came from. But look at us now.”
After a shaky first possession, O’Dowd didn’t need long to get itself going.
Cermenelli-Johnson found Ian Garrick on third-and-eight for a 43-yard touchdown pass. Later in the quarter, Bryan Edwards – nicknamed “cheat code” because of his big-play talent – took a screen pass 18 yards to the house to put O’Dowd up 14.
Anthony Hassell’s nine-yard touchdown run gave O’Dowd a 21-point advantage by halftime.
O’Dowd’s defense was utterly dominant in the first half, sacking the quarterback five times. Christian was held to 98 yards of total offense through the first two quarters.
“I think some of the statement plays we made, we struck some fear into the other team. Suddenly, they’re not anxious to run into that hole,” junior linebacker/fullback OC Lehner. “Then obviously getting to their quarterback early, that guy’s a little more sheepish to throw that pass because he knows he’s gonna get hit.”
Any chance Christian had to come back was shut down by O’Dowd early in the second half.
Christian got the ball to open the third quarter, but O’Dowd’s defense forced a turnover on downs to give the ball back to its red-hot offense. The Dragons needed just one play to set up Ellis, who rushed for a 20-yard touchdown down the left sideline.
A rushing score from Lehner and a 22-yard field goal from Vince Santucci initiated a running clock, icing the game for O’Dowd and starting the celebration.
“We knew we could do this. It was just about confidence” said Cermenelli-Johnson, who completed 9-of-20 passes for 220 yards. “We knew we had the ability and the physical ability to do it. We just came here locked in and that’s what we did.”
The Dragons opened the season 1-3, with blowout losses to Mater Dei-Chula Vista and Cardinal Newman as well as a close defeat to Rancho Cotate. O’Dowd came in second in the WACC Foothill Division as it lost a head-to-head matchup with rival James Logan.
But the Dragons were unstoppable in the postseason. They breezed past Mt. Diablo, St. Helena and Fortuna to capture the North Coast Section Division VI title.
Behind a two-touchdown performance from Ellis, O’Dowd edged Chico in the NorCal regionals to get to Friday’s state title game.
“Every guy on this team committed themselves to working and getting better,” Nickerson said. “Our motto this year was Mamba mentality, and getting 1% better every day. Our team had every reason to pack it in, but they kept fighting and it’s just been a special season.”