With his helmet off, Alijah Royster looks like he’s 12 years old. Don’t let his youthful face fool you.
“He’s a baller,” Oxnard Pacifica quarterback Dominic Duran said of the 5-foot-8, 150-pound sophomore.
Royster rallied the Tritons from a 21-point halftime deficit to tie Sacramento Grant with his fourth touchdown of the game with 3:54 left in Friday night’s CIF state championship Division 2-AA bowl game at Saddleback College.
“Royster is awesome,” coach Mike Moon said.
Grant (12-3) came through with its own answer to Royster’s second-half surge, scoring the winning touchdown with 22 seconds left when Koby Shabazz caught an 18-yard touchdown pass from Luke Alexander to secure a 35-28 victory over the Tritons.
“I thought we had it in the bag,” Royster said of his third-quarter 36-yard touchdown reception that saw him throw away his helmet on the sideline and try to rally Pacifica fans after cutting Grant’s lead to 28-21.
Pacifica (11-5) rallied from 21-points down Nov. 15 to beat Long Beach Poly, so there was little doubt the Tritons would put up a fight even when down 28-7 at halftime.
Duran completed 23 of 35 passes for 293 yards and three touchdowns. Isaiah Phelps rushed for 85 yards. Royster caught eight passes for 112 yards and three touchdowns and ran for another. Grant‘s Alexander passed for 303 yards and three touchdowns.
Moon had no idea that his young team would improve so much over the course of the season after starting 3-4. The youth was demonstrated before the game when a player forgot his cleats and another forgot his jersey. But what a journey it was, leading to a Division 4 championship and lots of potential for the future, starting with Royster, who is a running back first but played slot receiver to help out the offense.
“We have a lot of guys coming back,” Royster said. “I’m going to miss my seniors. I wish we could have won. We’re going to come back hungrier.”
Pacifica came out on its first possession and used a no-huddle, up-tempo scheme to drive 72 yards for a 7-0 lead on Royster’s seven-yard touchdown run. Not much went right after that for the Tritons. Grant scored the next 28 points for a 28-7 halftime lead.
Alexander, who suffered a concussion in last year’s state final, knocking him out in the second quarter, was in complete control thanks to an offensive line that gave him lots of time to pass. He threw a nine-yard touchdown pass to Brandon Lambert and a 26-yard touchdown pass to 6-6 sophomore tight end Zo Edwards.
A 36-yard interception return for a touchdown by Gary Tia and a six-yard touchdown run by Lambert closed out a dominating first half for the Pacers.
Then Pacifica’s defense shut out the Pacers in the third quarter, allowing the Tritons’ comeback to begin.
Duran, who graduates, said of Royster, “For the next two years in Ventura County, he’s all you’re going to hear about.”
