Palo Alto defeats Corona Centennial, 15-13, in Division I bowl

Palo Alto High is located across the street from Stanford University, so you know there are some bright, feisty teenagers in the neighborhood, and what the Vikings pulled off Friday night at the Home Depot Center in the CIF state championship Division I bowl game should even impress the college students.

Considered a heavy underdog to unbeaten Corona Centennial and its high-powered offense, Palo Alto came away with a 15-13 victory after a 42-yard field-goal attempt by Ezequiel Rivera with 30 seconds left was no good.

The Vikings (14-0) three times stuffed Centennial on fourth-down situations, led by linebacker Michael Cullen and defensive tackle Kevin Anderson. And they came through with their biggest stop on a wet, rainy night with 4:14 left. Quarterback Michael Eubank, after racing 33 yards for a touchdown, was dropped short on a two-point conversion attempt.

Centennial (14-1) bumbled and stumbled all night, picking up 11 penalties for 112 yards.

“It wasn’t what they did,” Eubank said. “It was us making mistakes. The slippery surface really affected us, but they did what they had to do to get the W.”

The first half was most stunning in terms of how poorly Centennial performed. The Huskies acted as if they had never played on a wet field. Barrinton Collins twice lost the ball on fumbles before leaving the game with a concussion. There was a bad snap that resulted in a safety. There were two other fumbles the Huskies happened to fall on.

There were three 15-yard unsportsmanlike conduct penalties, a holding penalty that wiped out a touchdown run and another holding penalty that nullified a 41-yard pass play. It helped Palo Alto do something few thought was possible — hold a Huskies offense averaging 54 points a game to zero points in the first half.

Quarterback Christoph Bono was able to scramble and burn Centennial’s defense. He had an 11-yard touchdown pass to Davante Adams and an 80-yard touchdown pass to Maurice Williams for a 15-0 lead. Bono was nine of 16 for 180 yards.

Penalties and TV timeouts made the game seem in slow motion for Centennial and prevented the Huskies from reaching the rapid-fire tempo they thrive in.

Finally, the Huskies got their offense in gear in the third quarter, with Eubank breaking off a 75-yard run. Romello Goodman scored on a four-yard run with 8:16 left in the third.

The rain and cold weather could not have come at a more inopportune time for the CIF, which was hoping some intriguing matchups in sunny Southern California could attract football fans on the weekend before Christmas.

The CIF is in the first year of a new three-year contract to hold the bowl games at the Home Depot Center, and a TV contract with Fox Sports West ends this weekend, so negotiations will begin this summer. TV coverage is critical in providing exposure and helping finance the events.

Saturday’s games in likely wet weather will test the loyalty of Southern California fans who don’t have a lot of tolerance for traffic or watching sporting events in rain. But Anaheim Servite (14-0), which faces Concord De La Salle (13-0) in the Open Division final, is known for its dedicated alumni, so conditions won’t prevent the Friars from coming out en force, right?

eric.sondheimer@latimes.com

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