CERRITOS — The Anaheim football team was just one win away from their first championship game appearance since 2006.

Unfortunately, the Colonists were unable to overcome four turnovers as their season ended with a loss to Gahr 28-12 in the CIF-SS Division 13 semifinals Friday night at Gahr High.

Gahr middle linebacker Isaiah Portillo, right, brings down Anaheim wide receiver Jeremiah Castro in the CIF-SS Division 13 semifinal football playoff in Cerritos on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)

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Anaheim (10-3) went into its most important game in years without arguably its most important player, quarterback Jason Garrett. He suffered an injury to his throwing shoulder on the last play of the first half in their quarterfinal win over Arrowhead Christian.

The Colonists turned to sophomore Jacob Campos in Friday’s game against Gahr.

Campos lost a fumble on Anaheim’s first play from scrimmage and also threw a pair of interceptions, including a 92-yard, pick-six by Jai’Dyn Backus that came at a crucial point in the third quarter.

The Colonists trailed 14-6 late in the third and were threatening to score as they moved inside the Gahr 20.

On the final play of the third quarter, Backus stepped in front of a pass intended for Xavier Aviles, picked up a few blocks downfield and went 92 yards the other way to make the score 21-6.

“It’s tough,” Anaheim coach Gus Martinez said. “You don’t want to say ‘if this’ or ‘if that’ but definitely, he (Campos) had some inexperience there, but at the end of the day we gave up too many points. And obviously, they got the pick-six there that broke our backs, but I’m so proud of our kids. They fought until the very last second. No penalties, nothing silly, they just kept playing, and that’s exactly what I expected from this group of 27 seniors that has given us everything they had tonight.”

Campos scored on a 1-yard touchdown run after a 28-yard run by Eduardo Guardado set Anaheim up with a first-and-goal from the Gahr 3. The TD made the score 21-12.

Martinez elected to go for two on that possession to try to make it a seven-point deficit, but the try was stopped by the Gladiators defense.

“We felt some momentum so we thought we could knock it in real quick,” Martinez said, “instead of chasing at the very end where there’s more pressure. But it didn’t happen for us.”

Gahr (8-5) will be playing in its first CIF-SS final. The top-seeded Gladiators will travel to face Pasadena next Friday, Nov. 29.

Gahr QB Roman Acosta threw three touchdown passes, including a 30-yard scoring pass to Jake Sikma with 3:15 remaining that put the game out of reach.

“He was sick all week, so that’s why we weren’t functioning very well in the first half — practice matters,” Gahr coach Greg Marshall said. “But he made some great plays, he’s very athletic.”

Acosta also flashed his athleticism on a 33-yard TD pass to Isaiah Haywood, where he eluded a sack with a spin move to his left, then rolled to his right before finding Haywood in the end zone.

The Gladiators took advantage of the first Anaheim fumble, recovered by Isaiah Portillo, when Acosta found Alexander Gutierrez for a 27-yard TD pass to make it 7-0.

The Colonists answered with an 18-play drive and scored on the final play of the first half when Arturo Velazquez punched it in from the 1-yard.

The scoring drive included a key fourth-down conversion play when Campos found Victor Mejia for a 17-yard gain to keep the drive alive.

Anaheim football tripped up by turnovers in loss to Gahr in Division 13 semifinals

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