Dominic Massimino, Ventura County StarSat, November 29, 2025 at 6:54 PM UTC·6 min readIt was a return to glory for the Grace School football program.
Just three seasons since the program was forced to cancel its varsity football season due to lack of players, the Lancers prevailed in the CIF-Southern Section Division 12 title game by beating Santa Paula 48-16 in a dominating championship performance on Friday, Nov. 28, at Cal Lutheran University.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementIt may have been the fifth title in program history, but it was the first in a new era of Grace football.
“We have gone through a long four years of doubt, especially with last year’s losing in the first round of playoffs,” senior running back Jake Williams said. “We had a little chip on our shoulder and had to prove something. That was the best part.”
The small private school in Simi Valley now has the second-most CIF-SS titles for any Ventura County football program, passing Westlake (4) on the list while improving to 5-6 in CIF-SS championship games. St. Bonaventure has 11 titles to lead the county.
Grace’s lopsided victory marked the end of a sweet run for the Cardinals, who went from being an at-large bid to the playoffs with a 5-5 record all the way to the brink of a CIF title.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“I congratulated this team on staying together through tough times and persevering,” Santa Paula head coach Mike Montoya said. “I really think it is a life lesson beyond football — if you persevere, good things will happen. We set the bar high. That is the message we sent to our underclassmen.”
In near-zero visibility due to a dense fog that seemed to hover just over William Rolland Stadium in Thousand Oaks, Santa Paula checked the Lancers’ winning resolve early.
Junior Imari Carveth, who was questionable to suit up due to a shoulder injury, took the opening kickoff 67 yards all the way down to the Grace 13-yard line.
Grace’s defense held up against Santa Paula (8-6) in the red zone, forcing a 27-yard field-goal try that went wide right.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe defensive stand snatched the momentum right back from the Cardinals after the big play.
“To be able to come out, come right off the bench on defense and just play lights out and stop them, it was pretty amazing,” Grace head coach Tom Coate said. “Our boys then believed. We knew we needed some stops, and that was a key stop. I think that right there set the tone for the rest of the game for our defense.”
The Lancers (11-3) moved methodically down the field on the following drive, spanning 80 yards and 13 plays, to score on a 10-yard Jake Williams touchdown run. Williams was a workhorse for Grace, rushing 33 times for 130 yards and two TDs.
But no one had a bigger night than Grace senior receiver Landon Cooper, who finished with nine catches for 129 yards and four total TDs — three through the air and one on the ground — as well as an interception to lead Grace to its first CIF title since 2018.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“He was clutch for us,” Coate said. “He completed three critical clutch first-down catches that were not easy to make, and of course, he never comes off the field. … He is a baller.”
Cooper rushed into the end zone on a jet sweep to build Grace’s lead to 14-3 early in the second quarter after Luis Ventura knocked in a field goal for Santa Paula.
Then he came up big again.
On a play drawn up by his brother, assistant offensive coordinator Noah Cooper, the senior motioned from left to right, faking a bubble screen pass from Riley Williams before breaking downfield.
“Both the corner and the safety bit, and then Riley threw a beautiful ball over the top,” Cooper said. “All I had to do was run and catch.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe play put the Lancers up 21-3 at halftime.
Grace’s onslaught continued into the second half. Quarterback Riley Williams, who completed 14 of 18 passes for 216 yards and two TDs, punctuated a drive with a 4-yard keeper up the gut, plowing through a Cardinals defender on the goal line to go up 34-3.
Another TD pass to Cooper, this one for 38 yards, made it 34-3 moments later.
“Nothing new,” Jake Williams said of Cooper. “I knew he was going to have a night. He is the most important part of our offense. We just throw him the ball and he will make something out of it. Nobody can tackle him.”
Forced to rely on their passing attack to try to get back into the game, Cardinals quarterback Rene Vega threw the ball 24 times in the second half. He finished 19 for 44 for 192 yards, one TD and one interception.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“They stopped our run game,” Montoya said. “We couldn’t get our run game going, that was the biggest difference from the first time around.”
Unlike the season-opening meeting between the teams in which Grace only stopped Santa Paula’s offense from reaching the end zone once in a 45-34 Cardinals win, the Lancers’ defensive front was in charge.
“We grew,” Coate said of his team’s transformation. “We grew from boys who had never played football to very experienced, very disciplined football players.”
Santa Paula scored twice late in the game — on a Ryan Luna TD run from 9 yards out at the end of the third quarter and a Vega TD pass to Dominic Meza (six catches, 65 yards) at the end of regulation that made it 48-16 after a failed 2-point try.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAn emotional Coate threw his hands into the air as the final seconds ticked off the clock, hugging players and fellow coaches on the sideline. With his team gathered around him, Coate thanked the group for allowing him to be a part of their journey to a CIF title.
“All these kids were in the hallway,” Coate said. “I am proud of that fact. On other teams, they wouldn’t be able to play. Here, they play, and they are winning.”
The Lancers will to play in a CIF-State regional game on Dec. 5 or 6 with a chance to reach a state championship bowl the following week.
For a program that was on the brink of extinction just four years ago, playing at least one more week of football is a welcome feeling.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement“I just remember being in junior high and hearing that we had to crash our program. It was really hard. I didn’t know what the future would be,” Cooper said. “I just hope we can continue doing great things. … Grace football is coming back.”
Dominic Massimino is a staff writer for the Star. He can be reached at [email protected]. For more coverage, follow @vcsdominic on Twitter and Instagram.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Grace routs Santa Paula to win CIF-SS Division 12 title
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