SAN DIMAS An unexpected playoff run by a young San Dimas football team came to an end as Cerritos Valley Christian dominated the second half to pull away for a 28-12 win in the CIF-Southern Section Division 9 semifinals on Friday night. Valley Christian (10-3) will now face Ramona next Friday or Saturday for the division championship. Ramona defeated Hesperia 40-13 in the other semifinal game. Despite the loss, San Dimas (7-6) finishes its season on a high note with two playoff wins. This is the ninth season out of the past 10 in which the Saints have won at least one playoff game. “(Valley Christian) is good,” said San Dimas coach Mark Holman. “But we didn’t give them our best game. Hats off to them, though. They showed up and we had a few miscues.” San Dimas was led by junior running back Jacob Gallegos, who was the focal point of the Saints’ offense. A week after rushing for 248 yards in a 28-8 win over Riverside Poly, he rushed for 137 yards on 26 carries against Valley Christian. He scored two touchdowns too. One was on the ground while the other was a 34-yard reception. Out of 39 offensive plays for San Dimas, Gallegos touched the ball on 28 of them. “He just plays hard,” Holman said of Gallegos. “You can put him anywhere. He’s a great young man to coach. You saw it tonight. He can catch the ball. He can run the ball. He can block. He does everything.” “It sucks to lose,” Gallegos said. “But we did amazing. No one thought we’d make it all this way.” The Saints trailed 14-12 at halftime, but the Defenders pulled away thanks to impressive ball control offense and two key defensive stops in the fourth quarter. Valley Christian opened the third quarter with a 13-play, 68-yard drive that ate 7: 23 off the clock. It ended when quarterback Liam Sweeney dropped back on a fourth-and-3 from the San Dimas 26 and found Sean Bouma wide open on the right side for a touchdown pass. That put the Defenders up 21-12. Valley Christian forced San Dimas to punt after a three-and-out and took over at the Saints 49. The Defenders needed only five plays to find the end zone. Sweeney hit Bouma again. This time it was over the middle for a 33-yard touchdown that put Valley Christian up 28-12 with seven seconds left in the quarter. Valley Christian stuffed San Dimas’ Keenan Hoyt for a 3-yard loss on fourth-and-4 at the Defenders 43-yard line with 7: 31 left in the game. Valley Christian then stopped Gallegos for a 1-yard loss on fourth-and-2 at the Defenders 44 with 3: 38 remaining. The Saints relied heavily on Gallegos in the first half. He delivered too, scoring touchdowns on two big plays. After an Adam D’Amato interception off a deflected pass in the San Dimas end zone, the Saints took over at their own 30 midway through the first quarter. Four plays later, Gallegos gave San Dimas a 6-0 lead when he grabbed a handoff and sprinted through a big hole up the middle for a 53-yard touchdown. The extra point failed. Gallegos gave his team a 12-7 lead with 4: 07 left in the second quarter when he caught a 34-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Brandon Meredith while streaking down the left sideline. The extra point was blocked. It was a ten-play, 79-yard drive that saw Gallegos touch the ball on nine of those plays. The Saints players, coaches and parents gathered on the field after the game. It was emotional for the seniors playing in their final game of their high school careers, but there was definitely optimism about the future. “We were happy to be here,” Holman said. “No one gave us any credit to be here. The future is definitely bright. We have the majority of the team coming back next year, so I’m super excited about that.” Gallegos echoed that sentiment from Holman. “I love this team,” he said. “There’s so much more to come.”.
https://www.whittierdailynews.com/2025/11/21/san-dimas-football-stopped-in-semifinals-by-valley-christian/
San Dimas football stopped in semifinals by Valley Christian
