There’s little room for error in handling the arms and legs of Sherman Oaks Notre Dame’s Steele Pizzella, California’s fastest quarterback.
There was an 80-yard touchdown run Friday night in which his 10.64-second 100-yard dash was electrifying. There were four touchdown passes, three to Luc Weaver.
And yet, top-seeded Simi Valley was able to pull out a 49-47 victory over the Knights in the first round of the Southern Section Division 3 playoffs because it had its own dominant offensive weapon in the none of running back Brice Hawkins, who rushed for 202 yards and scored four touchdowns.
“It was a shootout, and they had the ball last,” Notre Dame coach Evan Yabu said.
Hawkins’ seven-yard run in the final minute earned Simi Valley (10-1) a first down to run out the clock and set the Pioneers up for another home game next week against La Habra.
Pizzella passed for 362 yards with two interceptions and ran for 173 yards in his final high school game before heading to Washington State. Simi Valley coach Jim Benkert knew all about Pizzella’s talents, having been her coach for her first two years of high school.
“Oh my God,” Benkert said. “He’s special. He made great plays with his feet, he made great plays with his arm.”
Freshman cornerback Micah Hannah, who threw an interception for Simi Valley on the Knights’ first possession, knew Pizzella because his older brother, Malachi, played with Pizzella at Simi Valley.
“He’s a great player,” Hannah said. “He’s very fast.”
Two lost fumbles and a first-half interception by Simi Valley helped Notre Dame reach halftime trailing just 28-26. There have been some great Knights plays. Weaver had a 66-yard touchdown run on a broken coverage and a 25-yard touchdown run. Caden Sliowski returned a fumble 65 yards for a touchdown. Pizzella ran 80 yards up the middle for another touchdown.
Hawkins scored three touchdowns in the first half for Simi Valley. Evan Rodriguez caught a 74-yard touchdown pass from Tripp Harrison to start the third quarter for the Pioneers, sparking a back-and-forth scoring duel. Weaver, a 6-foot-3 junior, was difficult to cover. He had eight receptions for 196 yards.
A pivotal moment came in the fourth quarter when Jayden Graham threw an interception in the end zone for Simi Valley after a miscommunication between Pizzella and his receiver with Simi Valley ahead 42-40. Hawkins scored on a two-yard run with 4:48 left.
The win adds to a remarkable accomplishment for a Simi Valley program that beat four private school powers this season: the Knights, St. Bonaventure, Bishop Diego and Oaks Christian.
Simi Valley’s coaching staff is comprised of prolific former head coaches. There’s Richard Fong (LA Baptist), 82-year-old Bob Richards (Thousand Oaks), and defensive coordinator Doug Semones (Kahuku, Hawaii), who lives in Puerto Rico but left his wife and 12 rescue dogs behind for three months to help Benkert. There’s also tight ends coach Ron Rescigno, 88, a former head coach at New York.
Benkert has won six Southern Section titles at Westlake, Oaks Christian and Simi Valley, where he took over in 2018 and won the Division 6 title last season. He was also offensive coordinator as a 25-year-old at Crespi in 1986 when the Celts, led by second-year running back Russell White, won the Big Five Conference championship. “Give the ball to Russell,” was his simple play call, and it worked.
“They believe in it,” Benkert said of his current players.
This story was originally published in Los Angeles Times.
