DOWNEY — For the third consecutive week, the Warren football team won a CIF-Southern Section Division 3 playoff game by one point and for the second week in a row the Bears did it in overtime.
Senior receiver Jordan Ross caught nine passes for 244 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Warren to a 36-35 overtime win against Chaminade Friday night.
Warren (11-2) will play St. Bonaventure (10-3) in the Division 3 championship game on Friday, Nov. 24 or Saturday, Nov. 25.
“It’s only one main thing and that’s just loving each other,” Ross said postgame. “Once we know we love each other and trust each other, you can’t beat the Warren Bears.”
Warren scored the game’s first points, on third-and-22 from its 11-yard line. Junior quarterback Madden Iamaleava rolled to his right and threw an 89-yard touchdown pass to Ross.
Warren led 7-0 with 6:07 left in the first quarter.
Ross caught his second touchdown on a 9-yard pass from Iamaleava.
Bears led 14-0 early in the second quarter.
Warren looked like it was on its way to an easy victory.
But on the ensuing drive, Chaminade freshman running back Marquis Jones ran up the middle of the Bears defense untouched for a 30-yard touchdown.
Chaminade (7-6) trailed by a touchdown with less than seven minutes left in the second quarter.
Warren’s next drive ended with a punt giving the Eagles a chance to tie the game.
Chaminade tied the game on their next possession after junior wide receiver Logan Carpenter threw a 36-yard touchdown to junior quarterback Seth Shigg on a reverse pass.
The Bears received the ball to start the third quarter, driving the length of the field with freshman running back Kelton Strickland scoring from four yards out.
Warren led the Eagles 21-14 with 8:48 left in the third quarter.
Chaminade answered with a touchdown of their own on the next drive when sophomore running back Niles Davis scored from two yards out to tie the game at 21 with 9:53 left in the fourth quarter.
The Bears again regained the lead when Strickland scored his second touchdown of the game to put the Bears up 28-21 with 6:00 left in the fourth.
The Eagles continued to fight back when Jones scored on a 9-yard run through the middle of the Bears’ defense to tie the at 28 with 56 seconds left in regulation.
Chaminade took the lead for the first time in the game when Jones scored his third touchdown, a one-yard run up the middle. Jones finished with 92 yards rushing and three touchdowns.
The Eagles led 35-28 after in overtime.
However, Warren answered dramatically and emphatically when Iamaleava converted a fourth-and-10 for a 15-yard touchdown to Ross.
“It’s a lot of trust,” Iamaleava said. “I trust these guys to play and they trust me to get the ball there.”
Instead of kicking the extra point, Warren lined up for the two-point conversion.
The Bears lined up in the tush-push formation, made famous by the NFL’s Philadephia Eagles. Strickland took the handoff, jumped, and lofted a jump shot-like pass to junior receiver Jace Brown for a successful two-point conversion to win the game, 36-35 in overtime.
“We said we were going to go for two when they scored first,” Warren head coach Kevin Pearson said. “We had the play set, ready to go and we executed greatly.”
