Oct 29, 2005 By Rob Burchianti 3 min read

CALIFORNIA – California won its first WPIAL football playoff game in 18 years and did so in impressive fashion at Booster Field on Friday night. The Trojans thoroughly dominated visiting Western Beaver in putting together a bruising 26-0 victory to advance to the Class A quarterfinals where they’ll face top-seeded Rochester at a neutral site next week.

“I think we sent a little message to Rochester,” California coach Joe Kuhns said. “It’s not going to be a cakewalk over us.”

Donte Valentino did it all for California (7-3), rushing for 140 yards and three touchdowns, completing 4 of 7 passes for 35 yards, catching a pass for 19 yards and making a pair of interceptions.

“He’s an outstanding football player,” Golden Beavers coach Matt Gray said. “The tapes we saw on them didn’t do him justice.”

“He is explosive, and the key is you can’t key on just him,” Kuhns said of Valentino. “We’ve got other backs that are dangerous, too.”

Stephen Chester also broke the 100-yard barrier for California, rushing for 101, and Waugh Carter added 55 yards on the ground, including a determined 36-yard TD run that left just about the entire Western Beaver defense in his wake.

On defense, the Trojans limited Golden Beaver running back Shane Waida – like Valentino, a 1,000-yard rusher this season – to 61 yards on 14 carries and intercepted Jon D’Angelo three times.

California dished out several bruising hits to Western Beaver (7-3) on both sides of the ball.

“We get better every week,” Kuhns said. “Now we’ve broken a long streak of not winning a playoff game.”

Valentino’s second score was his most important, a 55-yard run on the second play of the second half that turned a 7-0 lead into a 13-0 advantage and turned the momentum the Trojans’ way for good.

“That forced us to start to throw the ball a little bit more than we’d like to,” Gray said.

“I knew we were faster than them,” Kuhns said. “I thought it was just a matter of time for Donte to break a long one. He was getting to the corner on them and once he gets around the edge, he’s hard to catch.”

Up until that point the outcome was still up in the air with California up only 7-0.

The lone score of the first half came after the Trojans’ Andrew Dunlevy forced a fumble by Waida that was recovered by Chris McVicker to end the Beavers’ first possession.

California then marched 69 yards in 11 plays for a touchdown. Chester made the sticks on a fourth-and-3 play that required a measurement at the Western Beaver 6. Three plays later, Valentino faked a hand-off then scampered up the middle for a 4-yard touchdown run. Joshua Roberts added the extra point.

After Valentino’s second TD, California stopped the Beavers on downs, then put together a 67-yard drive for another score. Carter covered the final 36 yards, busting through four tackles and dragging Western Beaver players into the end zone with him as the Trojans went up 20-0.

Valentino, working as quarterback out of the shotgun most of the night, scored the game’s final TD on a 10-yard run to open the fourth quarter.

Western Beaver’s last real threat ended on its next possession when Valentino picked off a pass in the end zone.