FULLERTON \u2014 After every Thursday practice, Valley Center High School football coach Bill Dunckel tells his team to \u201cfind a way to win by one.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s exactly what the Jaguars did Friday night, using five plays to go 78 yards, with Joeisha Ryan Tirado going the final 14 yards for a 36-35 win over San Jose Lincoln.<\/p>\n
The win at Fullerton College, in a game that saw nine lead changes, gives Valley Center (9-5) the Division 6-AA state football championship.<\/p>\n
\u201cA one-point win is a win,\u201d a hoarse Dunckel said as he pointed to the scoreboard. \u201cOf course, you\u2019d rather make it easy and win by 20, but a one-point win is a win.\u201d<\/p>\n
Valley Center trailed 35-29 after Lincoln drove 92 yards, scoring on a 2-yard run by Kyan Phillips with 1:47 to play. Valley Center\u2019s Joaquin Stehly blocked the ensuing PAT, however, keeping the lead at six points.<\/p>\n
Valley Center then went to work from its own 22-yard line. Quarterback Braylon Mitchell completed passes for 17, 10, 4 and 16 yards. The Jaguars also benefited from a 15-yard Lincoln penalty.<\/p>\n
With the ball on the Lincoln 14 and the clock running out, the Jaguars handed the ball to Tirado, who bullied his way into the end zone for his third touchdown of the game.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo doubt, I wanted the ball there,\u201d Tirado said. \u201cI was cramping the worst I\u2019ve ever cramped in a game. I was letting my team down by not being on the field. I had to score.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Valley](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SUT-L-preps1-1213-031.jpg\")
Valley Center\u2019s Jesse Morales #6, center, takes a closer look at the trophy after the Jaguars defeated San Jose Lincoln during the Division 6-AA State Championship at Fullerton College on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025 in Fullerton, California. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
With the score tied at 35, it was up to Valley Center\u2019s Jesse Morales to win the game with a PAT.<\/p>\n
Following a pair of offside penalties against Lincoln, Morales drilled the game-winner.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur regular kicker (Bryan Penaloza) got hurt a few games ago and the coaches asked me to kick,\u201d Morales said. \u201cIt\u2019s not something I enjoy, but the team needed me. I wasn\u2019t nervous until Lincoln jumped twice. So I told myself to calm down. I had to keep my cool and get the job done.\u201d<\/p>\n
Morales, a receiver by trade, entered the game with 85 catches for 1,361 yards and 15 TDs.<\/p>\n
Morales didn\u2019t have a catch in the first half. He had six for 134 yards and a finger-tip 54-yard TD strike from Mitchell in the secocnd.<\/p>\n
\u201cLincoln was taking away the deep stuff in the first half, playing a lot of zone, and we just weren\u2019t clicking. We made some adjustments at halftime to get me more involved,\u201d Morales said.<\/p>\n
Lincoln hit Valley Center with four big pass plays and led 16-13 at the half.<\/p>\n
Quarterback Luca Papoulias completed passes 68, 46, 34 and 25 yards and had 199 passing yards at the break.<\/p>\n
The 68-yarder came with 1:11 left in the half, when he found Kyan Phillips open over the middle and Phillips outran the defense to the end zone. The 34-yarder went to Michael Whitelaw and helped set up the first score of the game, a 1-yard run by Phillips which capped a 14-play, 88-yard drive. The 46-yarder went to Lucas Martinez and led to a Lincoln field goal.<\/p>\n
Valley Center scored on two short runs by Tirado, one for 5 yards and another for 4. He had 14 carries for 113 yards at the break.<\/p>\n
Tirado, who also plays on the defensive line, had 24 carries for 193 yards and three TDs. He also caught two passes for 25 yards.<\/p>\n
Morales had six catches for 134 yards, giving him 91 receptions and 1,495 yards for the season.<\/p>\n
Mitchell completed 15 of 24 passes for 307 yards, giving him 3,302 yards for the season. He had a 52-yard connection to Joaquin Stehly and 42 yards to Gauge Wright.<\/p>\n
![\"Valley](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/SUT-L-preps1-1213-019.jpg\")
Valley Center\u2019s Joeisha Ryan Tirado #7 and Peyton Stroh #72 celebrate after a touchdown against San Jose Lincoln during the Division 6-AA State Championship at Fullerton College on Friday, Dec. 12, 2025 in Fullerton, California. (Meg McLaughlin \/ The San Diego Union-Tribune)<\/p>\n
Tirado recovered a fumble, while Cooper Chaney and Casen Dunham both intercepted passes.<\/p>\n
Dunham\u2019s pick ended the game.<\/p>\n
Papoulias completed 16 of 22 passes for 328 yards, but was intercepted twice.<\/p>\n
Phillips had 23 carries for 109 yards and two TDs, caught four passes for 126 yards and had a 93-yard kickoff return.<\/p>\n
Division 6-AA State Football Championship Game<\/strong><\/p>\n At Fullerton College<\/strong><\/p>\n Valley Center 36, San Jose Lincoln 35<\/strong><\/p>\n San Jose Lincoln 6 \u00a0 \u00a010 \u00a0 \u00a013 \u00a0 6 \u2013 35<\/strong><\/p>\n Valley Center 7 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a06 \u00a0 \u00a016 \u00a0 7 \u2013 36<\/strong><\/p>\n L \u2013 Phillips 1 run (kick failed)<\/p>\n VC \u2013 Tirado 5 (Morales kick)<\/p>\n L \u2013\u00a0 Molina 31 FG<\/p>\n VC \u2013 Tirado 4 (kick failed)<\/p>\n L \u2013 \u00a0Phillips 68 pass from Papoulias (Molina kick)<\/p>\n VC \u2013 Tirado 19 (Jo. Stehly pass from Mitchell)<\/p>\n L \u2013 Martinez 4 run (pass failed)<\/p>\n VC \u2013 Morales 54 pass from Mitchell (Vose pass from Mitchell)<\/p>\n L \u2013 Phillips 93 kickoff return (Molina kick)<\/p>\n L \u2013 Phillips 2 run (kick failed)<\/p>\n VC \u2013 Tirado 14 run (Morales kick)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FULLERTON \u2014 After every Thursday practice, Valley Center High School football coach Bill Dunckel tells his team to…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":443913,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5134],"tags":[5229,1582,276,3102,1370,3549,7264,62,7289,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-443912","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-california","11":"tag-high-school-sports","12":"tag-latest-headlines","13":"tag-san-diego","14":"tag-sandiego","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-top-stories-sdut","17":"tag-united-states","18":"tag-united-states-of-america","19":"tag-unitedstates","20":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","21":"tag-us","22":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115710828283337056","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=443912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/443912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/443913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=443912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=443912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=443912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}