California high school football: Lincoln beats De La Salle 33-28 in wild CIF 1-AA final

The win is Lincoln’s first state championship in its long and storied history featuring NFL Hall of Fame running backs Terrell Davis and Marcus Allen. Tonight it was Roderick Robinson, who will follow Davis to Georgia.

Robinson, a 6-foot-2, 230-pound running back, rushed for more than 200 yards and four touchdowns as the Hornets roared back from a 14-7 deficit to win the game. After 20 minutes of scoreless football, the two teams combined for 21 points before the first half ended.

First, De La Salle running back Charles Greer ran for a 67-yard touchdown with 3:53 left in the first half.

On the ensuing Lincoln possession, senior wide receiver Corey Thompson-Miller caught a 30-yard pass from senior quarterback K.J. Chatham. On the play, Chatham was nearly sacked, but Robinson wiped out the defender with a big block, giving Chatham the time he needed to release the football. Junior Mahki Gray then made a big catch to set up first and goal. From there, Robinson rumbled through the line of scrimmage knocking over a defender before carving his way into the end zone with 27 seconds left in the first half.

That left De La Salle to much time, however. On a reverse, freshman Jaden Jefferson returned the kickoff to midfield. Sophomore quarterback Toa Faavae then completed his second pass of the night, a 40-yard pass to Nevada commit Journey McKoy who turned it into a 40-yard gain with 10 seconds left. On the next play Faavae was looking to pass, instead he kept it, turned the corner and got into the end zone to give the Spartans a 14-7 lead at the half. Lincoln quickly tied the game up. Robinson took the opening hand-off of the third quarter 60 yards. Two plays later, he scored from 32 yards out to knot up the game.

De La Salle quickly started driving, but the ball was forced out and recovered by junior Jamarion Herbert at the Lincoln 47. Three plays later Chatham hit Thompson-Miller in the end zone for a touchdown with 5:50 to play in the third quarter to give the Hornets their first lead of the game.

The Lincoln defense nearly scored itself. Senior Chris White intercepted a pass at midfield then ran it back to the 8-yard line. Again, the Hornets handed the ball to Robinson, who plunged into the end zone and take a 27-14 lead with 2:35 to play in the third.

De La Salle quickly answered as senior TCU commit Cooper Powers made a key block that allowed Faavae to scamper 88 yards into the promised land on a quarterback keeper to cut the lead to 27-21. Robinson wasn't done, on fourth-and-short early in the fourth quarter, the future Bulldog took the rock, got the first down then ran 32 yards into the end zone for his third touchdown of the day to give Lincoln a 33-21 lead. The Spartans quickly answered as Faavae hit sophomore Derrick Blanche for a 39-yard touchdown pass with 9:58 to play in the fourth.

On De La Salle's final possession, inside the 20 with less than two minutes to play, Josaun Granderson, Adrien Chargualaf and Munir Kassa sacked Faavae on three straight plays to seal the victory.