Mira Mesa’s Davis Earns Passing Mark...

Chad Davis ran away with a victory for Mira Mesa Friday night.

That’s right. Ran away with it.

Although Davis broke Todd Marinovich’s career high school passing record with 1:45 left in the third quarter, Davis ran for three touchdown to lead Mira Mesa to a 28-21 victory over Rancho Buena Vista in the opening round of the 3-A San Diego Section football playoffs at Mira Mesa.

“I got the record, but we won the game,” said a tearful Davis, overcome with emotion. “That’s all that mattered.” Davis couldn’t repeat the theme enough for the flood of reporters, teammates and well-wishers and that surrounded him.

“I didn’t think about the record at all,” he said. “All I could think about (during the game) was whatever we had to do to move the ball.”

Davis’s career yards of 9,188 surpassed the previous mark of 9,182 set by Marinovich from 1984-87 at Mater Dei and Capistrano Valley. Davis finished the night eight of 20 for 102 yards, with one interception and no touchdowns.

In the aftermath, Bob Davis, Chad’s father, just wanted to make sure there were no discrepancies, and that his son had indeed set the record.

“How many do you have him with?” Bob Davis asked anyone with a pad and pencil within earshot.

Not that Chad cared much. Like he repeated a thousand times during the course of the week, the record mean nothing unless accompanied by a victory, his first in four playoff attempts.

“My teammates deserve all the credit,” Chad Davis said. “But it’s too bad someone has to lose.”

From time to time it looked like no one would. The teams matched each other touchdown for touchdown throughout the first three quarters. Finally, with the scored knotted 21-21, the winner came with 3:35 left, on a 34-yard run by Davis.

“We felt we could come out and run against them,” Chad Davis said. “We knew we were bigger up front.”

RBV opened the scoring early in the first quarter on a one-yard run by Ragan Jackson, which Mira Mesa didn’t match until 3:53 remained in that quarter. Gains of 36 yards and 28 yards by David Lynch and Davis and shorter gains by William Walker gave the Marauders a third and goal on the one-yard line when Davis went over the top to score.

On the Longhorns next possession, Jackson fumbled and Jamil Person recovered for Mira Mesa, which led to a eight-play, 62 yard drive and Davis’s next touchdown, this time from two yards out.

RBV recovered an onside kick to open the third quarter, and Jackson scored on a 48-yard run less than a minute into the quarter. Mira Mesa answered back with a 19-yard run by Williams two minutes to take a 21-14 lead.

Rancho tied it on a 74-yard run by Edric Hall with 2:03 left in the third.

“Mira Mesa is a good football team and Chad Davis had a great game,” RBV Coach Craig Bell said. “I don’t know what else I can say.”

As glorious as the night was, Davis said it will take some time before it sinks in that he has, indeed, become the most prolific passer in high school history.

“It’s going to take a while before I realize what’s happened,” he said. “This had been a four-year struggle. I’m glad it’s happened, not just for me, but for my family especially. It’s been a lot of adversity for them.”

Now that the record--which at times felt like a thousand-pound weight--has been lifted, Davis said he can look forward to a week of practice, no strings attached.

“I know it’s broken, the team knows it’s broken, it feels good.”