Oct 22, 2005 By Mike Ciarochi 3 min read

CALIFORNIA – Donte Valentino gained 133 yards on 15 carries to put him over 1,000 yards for the season and scored three touchdowns to lead California over Geibel Catholic, 50-9, in the Tri-County South Conference season finale for both teams Friday night. The (6-3) Trojans prepare to host a WPIAL Class A playoff game next Friday after finishing second in the conference with a 6-1 mark. Geibel Catholic fell to 1-8 overall and 1-6 in conference games.

“That’s what we wanted was a home playoff game,” Trojans coach Joe Kuhns, acknowledging that his top goal was winning the conference title. “Playing at home in the playoffs is the easiest way to get out of the first round.”

Kuhns said he expects to draw Springdale as an opening opponent. “They were ranked in the top five in the state, but then they lost a couple of games toward the end of the season,” Kuhns said. “I’m pretty sure we’ll get someone out of that (Eastern) conference.”

Valentino scored the first time he touched the ball, going 38 yards on a third-and-four play to put California ahead for good with 4:18 remaining in the first quarter. Valentino recovered a Geibel Catholic fumble and scored two plays later, this time on a 9-yard run to increase the Trojans lead to 14-3 with 8:31 remaining in the second quarter.

He added a third touchdown on an 11-yard run at the beginning of the fourth quarter and went over 1,000 with that carry. He was, according to Geibel Catholic coach Angelo Dippolito, the difference in the game.

“Their whole team is Donte Valentino,” Dippolito said. “He’s got speed that we haven’t seen all season.”

Geibel Catholic moved into scoring range with the opening kickoff and converted with a 30-yard field goal from Mario Fragello to take a 3-0 lead with 6:16 to play in the first quarter. The Gators kept possession when Fragello forced and recovered a California fumble on a punt. It was one of six Trojan fumbles in the first half.

“We told the kids all week that this is the hardest kind of game to play because we were not playing for anything,” Kuhns said. The Trojans had already locked up second place and could neither overtake Mapletown for first place nor fall behind Jefferson-Morgan. “But these kids are tough. When we need to get it done, they get it done.”

Steve Chester scored a safety with an end zone tackle and Brandon Rossi scored on a 13-yard run for the Trojans. Waugh Carter got in the act with a 69-yard TD run in the third quarter and the Trojans also got scores from Drew Dunlevy on a 1-yard run and Adrian Stover on a 12-yard run.

Mitch Erdely got Geibel Catholic’s other score on a 4-yard touchdown run.

“We drove the ball into scoring range many times, but after the field goal, we just couldn’t punch anything in,” Dippolito said. “We were in there plenty of times, but kept coming up empty.”

The ground game was California’s bread-and-butter, however. The Trojans exploded for 376 yards on 44 carries.