Simi Valley's historic football season ends in Division 2-A state regional final

It was just too much Bryson Donelson.

The Fresno State-bound running back had more than 500 all-purpose yards and four touchdowns as host Central Valley Christian ended Simi Valley’s historic football season, 55-38, Saturday night in the CIF-State Division 2-A Southern California regional final in Visalia.

The state leader in touchdowns returned the opening kickoff 96 yards for a TD, rushed for 377 yards and three scores on 28 carries and also caught two passes for 33 yards.

“We just couldn’t stop the back,” Simi Valley coach Jim Benkert. “That’s the story of the game. He’s really good.”

But Simi Valley (9-6), making its CIF-State debut after delivering the program’s first sectional title in 99 years of football last week, put up the fight it has showed on a weekly basis during its unforgettable season.

Despite falling behind 41-17 in the second quarter, the Pioneers battled back, trimming the deficit to a manageable nine points with 11:21 to play.

“We fight,” Benkert said. “The kids played gamely. They played their hearts out. … I’m really proud of the kids.”

Running back Brice Hawkins put together his own memorable postseason performance, piling up 259 yards and three TDs from scrimmage.

The junior ran for 200 yards and two TDs on 27 carries and caught six passes for 59 yards and a TD.

Senior quarterback Jesse Sereno completed 28 of 48 passes for 302 yards and three TDs.

“They couldn’t stop us,” Benkert said. “We stopped ourselves. We just ran out of gas. It’s that simple.”

Sereno’s 14-yard TD pass to Dominic Demaio and 15-yard TD pass to Hawkins pulled Simi Valley within 47-38 with 11:21 to play.

The Pioneers got the ball back and drove into plus territory. But the drive was derailed by a penalty.

Donelson’s fourth TD, a 29-yard run, followed to put the game away with 7:11 left.

“We did just about everything we could to try to stop him,” Benkert said.

Simi Valley set a program-record 518 points in its first 15-game season.

Demaio caught three passes for 88 yards, Drayden Rittersdorf caught five passes for 41 yards, and Connor Calabrese caught six passes for 40 yards.

Just as it had in the CIF-Southern Section Division 6 final at Mira Costa, Simi Valley fell behind 28-7 in the first half.

After returning the opening kickoff for a score, Donelson had a 74-yard TD run. Gunnar Piepgrass’ 27-yard TD pass from Brent Kroeze and Drew DeGroff’s 1-yard run gave CVC a 28-7 lead with 11:02 left in the first half.

Jack Reed’s 32-yard field goal, Santiago’s 9-yard TD catch from Sereno and Hawkins’ 9-yard run pulled Simi Valley within 41-24 with 22 seconds left in the first half.

But Kroeze’s 27-yard scoring strike to Ryan Lewis put the Pioneers in a 47-24 halftime hole.

Simi Valley was left to regret the scores that opened and closed the first half, as well as its first two turnovers of its five-game postseason run.

“We felt we left points on the field,” Benkert said. “We should have scored more. … We just made too many mistakes against a good team.”

Joe Curley covers high school, collegiate and professional football for The Star. He can be reached at joe.curley@vcstar.com. For more coverage, follow @vcspreps on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Simi Valley's historic football season ends in regional final