Key Highlights
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- Rio Hondo Prep, with only 82 students, fell to undefeated Sonora 35-10 in the Division 2-A state championship after averaging 39 points all season. Star running back Noah Penunuri, who entered with nearly 2,000 yards, managed just 12 carries because of two bad ankles, crippling the Kares’ ground attack. Sonora extended its state-leading winning streak to 22 consecutive games, showcasing why the defending champion remains among California’s small-school football elite.
- Two small-school giants took center stage in the first game of the CIF state championship bowl tripleheader Saturday in Mission Viejo and showed how to play big-time football. In a battle of undefeated powerhouses, Rio Hondo Prep played tough but was overmatched by Sonora in a 35-10 loss in the Division 2-A title game at Saddleback College. Only 82 boys attend Rio Hondo Prep, yet the Kares (15-1) have grown accustomed to beating schools with much larger enrollments — as they did two weeks earlier in a 29-7 victory over Redondo Union for their 17th Southern Section title.
- Entering Saturday’s showdown they were averaging 39 points a game, but for the first time all season they faced an opponent that was able to bottle up their running backs and force them to throw — not their bread and butter.