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Football: Vista Murrieta states its case for bowl game

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I hope the section commissioners making the decision on which teams to select for the CIF state championship bowl games understand the accomplishment of Vista Murrieta this season.

Corona Centennial doesn’t lose in championship games. The Huskies were 6-0 in finals, until Friday night, when Vista Murrieta won the Inland Division championship with a 35-28 victory on Nicholas Stevens’ 31-yard touchdown run with 26 seconds left.

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Vista Murrieta finishes 14-0 on the field but 9-5 officially because of five forfeit losses due to a reporting error by a school in Georgia, causing the Broncos to be penalized for using an ineligible player who was later cleared by the Southern Section to play after receiving a hardship waiver.

Kicker Tyler Rausa has 19 field goals for Vista Murrieta. He’s one of a talented group of players, particularly on defense. How else could the Broncos win without figuring out a way to slow down the Huskies. They played a different front on every play, Coach Coley Candaele said.

Now comes decision time on Sunday. The bowl selections will be announced at 3 p.m. on Time Warner Cable’s bowl selection show.

‘We’re 14-0 on the field, and if they want the best team, it’s hard to pass us up,’ Candaele said. ‘We deserve to be in the Division I game.’

The commissioners will likely have to decide between Vista Murrieta and the Pac-5 champion, either San Clemente or Santa Margarita. Arguments can be made for all three, but Vista Murrieta is unbeaten and defeated in consecutive games two very good teams, Upland and Centennial.

That’s good enough for me.

-- Eric Sondheimer

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