So what if it was freezing cold. Burbank High School football coach John Heffernan enjoyed the postgame Gatorade shower.
It was part of a celebration Friday – the one that followed the Titans' huge 36-27 win over host Roseville in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II semifinals.
"The shower feels good right," Heffernan said. "It feels real, real good."
And for a lot of reasons. The Titans (9-3) advanced to the D-II finals against Grant Dec. 5 at Folsom High School.
It will be a rematch of the regular-season finale, which Grant won three weeks ago.
"I'm calling it the big payback," said Miles Freeman, the Titans' do-everything quarterback. "We wanted to play them after we lost to them earlier. We're looking forward to it."
Freeman scored on touchdown runs of 67, 1 and 2 yards and threw a 98-yard touchdown pass to senior running back Lucky Dozier, all in the first half. Freeman's 12-yard pass to Terence Mitchell gave the Titans a 36-14 lead with 7:54 left in the third quarter.
After that, the Titans had to hold on as the Tigers made a serious second-half push, only to fall a little short. The Tigers (8-4) closed the gap to nine points on a 19-yard run by running back Aaron Wagoner (15 carries, 163 yards) with 1:30 to play in the third. After that, the Tigers couldn't convert on some big plays.
Andrew Pangburn dropped a two-point conversion pass following Wagoner's scoring run. Later, Zack Davis dropped a touchdown pass in the end zone that could have cut into the Titans' lead with seven minutes to play. And usually reliable kicker Zach Tapia missed a 33-yard field goal that could have cut the Titans' lead to six.
Roseville completed one of its best campaigns in a decade. Tigers coach Larry Cuhna had predicted two teams from the Sierra Foothill League would reach the D-II final four.
But he never thought his Tigers would be one of the teams after years of struggling against perennial SFL powers Granite Bay and Del Oro. The Tigers beat both this season, after just missing the playoffs last season.
But they couldn't come through down the stretch Friday, despite quarterback Mike Moreno passing for 267 yards.
Call The Bee's Quwan Spears, (916) 326-5517
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