REV’s turnaround season ends on a safety

REDLANDS, Calif. – The Redlands East Valley High football team’s first trip to the playoffs since 2018 ended ignominiously on Friday.

The Wildcats lost 16-15 to St. Margaret’s of San Juan Capistrano in the first round of the CIF-Southern Section Division 10 playoffs on a safety of all things.

“That’s playoff football,” first-year Wildcat coach Kristian King said. “You can’t make mistakes, and you can’t make self-inflicted wounds. When you do that, you lose games.”

REV (6-5) went ahead 15-14 with 46 seconds left in the first half on a 16-yard touchdown pass from Isaac Vitela to Nathaniel Williams III.

St. Margaret’s (7-4) seemed poised to score and retake the lead in the third quarter when the Tartars moved to the 1-yard line. But the Wildcats held on fourth-and-goal and took over on their own 1.

Unfortunately for REV, it gave up a safety on its first play thereafter, putting St. Margaret’s ahead 16-15 with two minutes left in the third quarter. It was the only score of the second half.

REV threatened on its next possession, driving to the St. Margaret’s 27 with the help of an 18-yard pass from Vitela to tight end Noah Waller. But on fourth-and-one from the 27, Vitela was hit for no gain and St. Margaret’s took over.

“We were just putting the ball in our quarterback’s hands,” King said. “He’s made plays for us all year long. In money time, you’ve got to put the ball in your best player’s hands. They made a great stop on defense.”

The Tartars got the ball in the waning minutes but missed a field goal. REV took over, but a desperation heave on first down from the Wildcat 32 was intercepted, ending REV’s season.

“It was bittersweet,” King said. “Of course we wanted to accomplish more and of course we wanted to make a run in the playoffs. But it doesn’t diminish everything we wanted to accomplish. Lifting the program and bringing the energy and changing the mentality of REV football. I’m proud of that.”

REV won only one game last year. It had two 0-10 seasons since going 7-4 in 2018.

The game began well as Vitela hit Taamir Mack on a 22-yard touchdown pass to make it 8-0.

St. Margaret’s struck back when two-way star Sebastian Salazar intercepted a pass and returned it 70 yards for a touchdown to bring the Tartars to within 8-7.

The Tartars had success with Salazar simply running for chunks of yardage from the quarterback spot. His 16-yard TD run made it 14-8.

Vitela ran for 59 yards and passed for 159 to pace REV. Hunter Goettel added 81 yards rushing on six carries. Mack had 73 yards on four receptions.

Salazar was a problem for REV, carrying the ball for 138 yards on 27 carries.

After the game, King spoke to the Wildcats for a long time.

“We’ll keep competing,” King said. “Compete no matter what. Get into the off-season and grind. Learn from these lessons and keep getting better and let’s strive for more.”

Some of the Wildcats were teary-eyed. But senior defensive end Marcus Manriquez already had a healthy perspective on the season.

“It was beautiful,” Manriquez said. “It did so many things for my life that it’s hard to explain. It was the best time I ever had, playing with my friends on the football field. Last year we were really friends but this year it all came together and we were more like a family.”