RIVERSIDE — Ramona is doing something it hasn’t done in 30 years — playing for a CIF-Southern Section championship.
The Rams held off top-seeded and previously undefeated Alhambra 28-24 on Friday night to advance to the CIF-SS Division 13 title game.
Ramona (11-2) will host Esperanza, which knocked off Inglewood 42-41, for the championship on either Friday or Saturday. The Rams are making their third divisional championship appearance, with their last coming when they tied Glendora for the Div. 4 title in 1989.
“I’m extremely excited not just for myself, but obviously for our entire community and this team that’s worked so hard to get there,” said Ramona head coach Ken Mushinskie. “We’re just real proud to represent Riverside and be able to host a game against a really good Esperanza team.”
Ramona jumped out to a 14-0 lead after the first quarter, made a key goal-line stand in the third quarter and got a pick six from Donte Roby Jr. in the fourth to advance to the final next week.
“Those two plays really defined our season,” Mushinske said. “Our defense has been playing a bend-don’t-break style of defense. We came up big on that goal-line stand, and then to get that tipped pass intercepted and score a touchdown was incredible. We’re real excited to get this victory.”
The Rams beat a team in Alhambra (12-1) that was also attempting to end a long championship game appearance drought as well.The Moors, who were undefeated coming in, last advanced to a sectional championship game in 1955, and they hadn’t won a title since 1946.
Ramona took a 21-17 lead into halftime. The score remained the same until the fourth quarter, but Alhambra had a shot to take the lead in the third quarter.
The Moors drove all the way to the 1, but a fumble on the snap at the Rams’ 1 on fourth down led to a turnover on downs. Alhambra had four straight plays from inside the 2 and failed to punch it in.
With under 7 minutes to play, the Ramona defense tipped a pass that landed in the hands of Rubio, who returned the interception 25 yards to give the Rams a 28-17 lead.
On Alhambra’s next drive, the Moors’ cut the deficit to four at 28-24 with 4:25 to play when quarterback Noah Rodriguez found Vito Russell for a 45-yard touchdown pass. Russell finished with 15 catches for 212 yards and two TDs.
Ramona was able to run out the clock from there.
Rams junior quarterback Diego Muniz completed 15 of 28 passes for 234 yards with two touchdown passes and an interception. Wide receiver David Cornejo caught eight of Muniz’s passes for 135 passes, and Miguel Villa hauled in a 33-yard scoring pass.
For Alhambra, Rodriguez completed 22 of 49 passes for 282 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions, and he scrambled for 95 yards on the ground.
