Woodland Christian beats defending state champion Orland to take CIF NorCal championship
Woodland Christian’s remarkable football season will continue, a journey perhaps only those in school-colors red and white could possibly have imagined.
The Cardinals of Yolo County on Saturday headed some 90 minutes north to Orland to face a 2022 CIF state champion that came in having won 26 of its last 27 games. The underdogs prevailed.
Woodland Christian defeated Orland High School 28-0 to capture the Northern California Division 5-A championship.
At 14-0, the Cardinals join NorCal No. 1-ranked Serra of San Mateo and Northern Section small-school power Colusa as the only unbeaten teams left in the state.
Using long, time-consuming drives, WC received touchdown runs from Noah Hinkle and Khai Brown, and Isaiah Hunt’s 5-yard touchdown pass to Carter Lang accounted for the final score with 3 minutes to play.
Orland touched the ball five times through three quarters, resulting in two turnovers on downs, a punt and an interception.
The Cardinals were coming off of a 36-14 win over Ripon Christian in a CIF Sac-Joaquin Section title game in which star quarterback Gabe Sanchez went down with an ankle injury. Hunt filled in and the momentum continues.
Sanchez played against Orland, rotating with Hunt, and vows to be at full strength when Woodland Christian faces Banning (9-6) of Wilmington of Los Angeles County in the state final at 3:30 p.m. Saturday at El Camino College in Torrance.
This story was originally published December 3, 2023 at 12:26 AM.