ONTARIO — When Chaffey scored with 1:44 left in the first half to go ahead by 13 points on Friday night, the Tigers seemed to be on their way to reaching the CIF Southern Section semifinals for the first time in 30 years.
The problem was, the offense couldn’t get the ball back.
Chaffey ran one offensive play in the next 5:35 while Palmdale recovered two onside kicks and scored three touchdowns.
Chaffey never recovered and Palmdale went on to win, 42-26, in a Division 12 quarterfinal at Chaffey High.
Fifth-seeded Palmdale (7-5) will host top-seeded Mary Star in the semifinals next Friday. It is Palmdale’s second trip to the semifinals in the last three years.
No. 4 Chaffey (5-6), which was just 1-9 last year, scored touchdowns on each of its first three possessions and led 20-7 when Rayvon Adams scored on a 38-yard touchdown run with 1:44 left in the first half. Adams scored two touchdowns and rushed for 186 yards on 20 carries.
But the Falcons answered by driving 57 yards in seven plays, cutting the deficit to 20-13 on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Joshua Suarez to Paul Turner with just 25.7 seconds left in the half.
“I think that touchdown gave us a little more spirit going into halftime,” Palmdale coach Anthony Coleman said. “We had our heads down a little bit in that first half. When we came out in the second half, we got that first onside kick, that sparked it (the comeback).”
Chaffey was set to receive the second-half kickoff but Palmdale recovered the onside kick, and Suarez threw another touchdown pass to Joseph Mason to tie the score. Another onside kick followed and 17 seconds later, the Falcons led 26-20 on Suarez’s fourth touchdown pass of the game and third (of four) to Turner.
“We knew somehow, some way we had to steal some possessions from these guys,” Coleman said.
The onside kicks did not surprise Chaffey coach Chris Brown.
“We prepared for it,” Brown said. “We put our athletes up there. They made a couple of plays.”
Brown felt both kicks should have been penalties, but the officials disagreed. Onside kicks driven into the ground that pop up in the air he said are penalties because of the safety issue.
“But they executed it and it’s our responsibility,” Brown said. “That gave them momentum and their offense executed.”
While Palmdale was scoring those three touchdowns, Chaffey ran one offensive play, an interception immediately after the first score.
But trailing only 26-20, the Tigers had a golden opportunity to regain the lead on their next possession, facing a third-and-3 at the Palmdale 7.
But a first down run was negated by a holding call, then a false start led to a third-and-18. Chaffey was 0 for 2 passing at that point and an incomplete pass on third down and a sack on fourth down gave the ball back to the Falcons.
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Palmdale then drove 66 yards in four plays as Suarez dove in from the 1 for a 34-20 lead with 2:57 to play in the third.
“Another big turning point was when they did take the lead and we got a holding call,” Brown said. “We were moving the ball well and we’re not built for third-and-16. I thought once they got the momentum, their defense played better, very intense. They were very stingy in the second half.”
Palmdale ended up scoring 35 unanswered points before a late Chaffey touchdown.
Suarez, a transfer who had missed the beginning of the season due to the sit-out period, completed 16 of 23 passes for 275 yards.
“We told these guys all week they had to bring their hard hat and their lunch pail,” Coleman said. “This is going to be one of those nights.”