Nov 16, 2017 5 min read

Glancing at California High School’s football schedule, it looks as if the the Trojans haven’t been tested all season.

The Trojans are 12-0, they’re the highest-scoring offense in the WPIAL at 52.7 points per game, and they’re also the hardest defense to score against in Class A, allowing only 8.3 points a game.

Their average margin of victory is a staggering 44.4 points, and they’ve won every game this season by double-digits.

But that doesn’t mean every win this season has been a cakewalk for California. Well, 11 of their 12 wins have been.

The one that wasn’t a rout was a mid-September game against Imani Christian, which California plays again tonight in the WPIAL Class A semifinals at Peters Township High School.

The Saints (10-2) led the Trojans 20-8 halfway through the second quarter, as Imani quarterback Tawan Wesley was torching California’s pass defense. California head coach Darrin Dillow then switched to a two-safety defense, neutralizing Imani’s prolific passing attack. The Trojans held Imani passers to a measly 8-for-23 the rest of the game, while intercepting four throws and allowing only one more touchdown, en route to a 41-26 win.

Dillow said the main reason for his team’s success this season, and the route to victory against Imani, is its aggressiveness,

“I want to see them come out and be aggressive both offensively and defensively,” Dillow said. “We need to be aggressive against Imani.”

Imani head coach Ronnell Heard said the key to the rematch, which also was the downfall for the Saints in the loss to California in September, is turnovers. The Saints turned the ball over four times and allowed a blocked punt returned for a touchdown.

“That’s one thing that I’ve stressed with our team this week is that we need to protect the football,” Heard said. “If we win the turnover battle, we’ll win the game.”

Both teams easily won first-round games and had some trouble in the quarterfinals. Sub-freezing temperatures and penalties hampered Imani, which eked out a 20-12 win over Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, while penalties and turnovers put a slight scare into the Trojans, who still beat Union 43-19.

“That was probably our worst game of the year,” Dillow said. “We made way too many mistakes. We had 14 penalties and four fumbles. … I think it was a good thing for us. We will learn from those mistakes.”

For Heard and the Saints, stopping California’s phenomenal veer-offense running attack is key. That means stopping junior 263-pound tailback Jelani Stafford.

“If you look at the last time we played them, I think we did a good job of containing Jelani Stafford. He had a couple of big runs in the second half, but a lot of defensive misalignment killed us,” Heard said. “Not to take anything away from him, he’s putting up monster numbers and he’s a big guy coming downhill. If we can tackle and we can stick to our assignments defensively, I think we’re going to be OK.”

For Dillow, stopping Imani’s offense revolves around stopping one of the most prolific passing attacks in the WPIAL. The Saints have thrown for nearly 3,000 yards and 38 touchdowns.

“They’re quick. We know they’re gonna score and that they’ll throw the ball deep. I’m OK if they score. I understand that’s going to happen,” Dillow said. “But we have a few different fronts for them. We’ll play some Cover-1, Cover-2, Cover-3 zone defenses. They’re going to see some things they didn’t see in the game earlier this season.”

While Dillow said he and his team are focused on the football game against Imani, he realizes the historic season his team is having.

“It’s great for the school,” Dillow said. “The kids have worked so hard to get where they are. It’s great for California, the school and the community. It’s really been a wonderful experience for everybody.”

Players to watch

• Jelani Stafford, California running back: Stafford has a WPIAL-leading 28 rushing touchdowns, is running for 10.5 yards per carry and is sixth in the WPIAL – and first in Class A – with 1,580 rushing yards. The junior ran for 228 yards and one touchdown on 27 carries against Imani in September.
• The rest of the California offense: Quarterback Colin Phillips has thrown for and ran for 1,071 yards and 21 touchdowns this season. The other three running backs in California’s rushing attack – Cochise Ryan, Zion Aldrich and Jonathan Wood – have run for a combined 1,761 yards and 34 touchdowns this season.
• Imani quarterbacks Tawan Wesley and Israel Reed: Wesley, Imani’s starting quarterback, is sixth in the WPIAL in passing yards with 2,404 and tied for third in touchdowns with 31. Wesley threw for three touchdowns and 212 yards in the loss to California earlier this season, but the senior also threw four interceptions. Reed, Imani’s second quarterback, replaced Wesley in the loss to California and was the starting quarterback for the team’s win over Clairton earlier this season. Heard played both quarterbacks against OLSH. Wesley threw for two touchdowns and Reed went 12-for-12 for 138 yards.
• Sam Fairley, Imani Christian wide receiver: Fairley is third in the WPIAL in receptions and yards with 60 and 1,156, respectively. Fairley caught a touchdown pass in the loss in September but has 16 receiving touchdowns and four return touchdowns in his other 11 games. He caught eight passes for 143 yards and a touchdown in the win over OLSH last week.