Norco Surprises Corona Centennial

There were plenty of reasons for Shane Martin to be nervous Wednesday night.

Martin, a senior kicker for Norco, was not only called upon to complete the upset against Corona Centennial, but it was also the first time he had been asked to kick a field goal all season.

Martin didn’t flinch, connecting on a 21-yarder with three seconds left to play to lift Norco to a 31-28 home victory over Centennial, ranked No. 10 in the Southland by The Times.

“It was just like an extra point,” Martin said. “It was no big deal.”

The victory moved the Cougars into first place in the Mountain View League and ended Centennial’s 19-game league winning streak.

“They just kept coming back and coming back,” Norco Coach Gary Campbell said.

The Cougars (7-1 overall, 3-0 in league) rallied from a 14-0 deficit in the first quarter to take a 21-14 lead on three touchdown runs by sophomore Toby Gerhart, who finished with 324 yards in 37 carries.

Centennial (5-3, 2-1) cut its deficit to 21-20 by halftime, then moved ahead, 28-21, on a 53-yard touchdown reception by Dashan Miller followed by a two-point conversion run by Terrell Jackson.

Jackson, the Southland’s leading rusher, was held to 71 yards in 15 carries.

He was stopped on fourth down at the Norco three-yard line with 9:13 left in the game, and the Cougars took advantage, going 91 yards and tying the score at 28-28 on a five-yard run by sophomore quarterback Kirk Philbrook with 4:33 left.

-- Dan Arritt

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The North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake boys’ water polo team, ranked No. 2 in the Southland by The Times, defeated top-ranked Anaheim Servite, 9-8, in a nonleague match at Harvard-Westlake.

Will Hindle-Katel, Eric Vreeland, Brian Flacks and Justin Rappel each scored twice and goalkeeper Jay Conley had 12 saves as the Wolverines (23-2), the top-ranked team in Southern Section Division I, never trailed.

Servite, which beat Harvard-Westlake, 8-7, in the final of last month’s S&R; Cup, falls to 23-2, but is still expected to be the top-seeded team in Division II when the playoff pairings are announced on Monday.