GLENDORA — Dana Hills’ football team had a three-touchdown lead late in the third quarter of its CIF-SS Division 6 semifinal against Glendora on Friday at Citrus College.

But the Tartans stormed back with three consecutive touchdowns, including an 11-yard score on a pass from freshman quarterback Sebastian Lawrence to Tim Johnson with 15 seconds remaining, to come away with a 25-21 victory over the Dolphins.

Charlie Eckl #7 of Dana Hills catches a pass over Brandon Coronado #9 of Glendora for a first down in the first half of a CIF-SS Division 6 semifinal football game at Citrus College in Glendora on Friday, Nov. 22, 2024. (Photo by Keith Birmingham, Orange County Register/ SCNG)

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Glendora (9-4) will play Murietta Mesa for the Division 6 championship.

“It hurts,” Dana Hills coach Tonny Henney told his team after the game. “It hurts bad. We tried to go to the moon. We just came up a little short. But that doesn’t take away from what we’ve accomplished.”

After a 4-yard touchdown run from Glendora running back Austin Coronado and a successful 2-point conversion made the score 21-18, the Dolphins (10-3) returned the ensuing kickoff to their 36 with 5:03 remaining.

On the ensuing drive, the Dolphins took a huge gamble on fourth-and-2 from their 44 and it paid off when Vanden Dugger hit Cameron Weaver for a 27-yard gain.

The Dolphins had a first down on the Glendora 39 and could have come close to running out the clock with one more first down.

But on fourth-and-4 from the Tartans 33, Dugger was sacked for an 18-yard loss.

With two minutes, 49 seconds remaining, the Tartans took over on the Dana Hills 49 and drove to the 8.

On second down, Lawrence connected with Johnson to complete the comeback.

Lawrence entered the contest in the fourth quarter after starter Brandon Coronado suffered an injury.

“Even when it was 21-3, I thought we needed one more score,” Henney said. “I knew we needed points. I was kind of a riverboat gambler there on that last drive. Give them credit, they made the plays to make the stops.”

The Dolphins also gambled late in the first half on a fourth-and-goal from the Glendora 7 with three seconds remaining.

Rather than kicking a field goal, the Dolphins went for a touchdown, but Dugger’s pass was intercepted as time ran out.

The second half was a total opposite of the first half with both teams having trouble scoring.

The Dolphins put together a 71-yard scoring drive on their first possession, capped by a 9-yard touchdown pass from Dugger to Aiden Desormiers to give Dana Hills a 7-0 lead.

Glendora responded with a 34-yard field goal from Hunter Lemos.

But that was the extent of the scoring in the half.

After the touchdown, the Dolphins’ remaining first-half drives resulted in a turnover on downs, an interception, turnover on downs, a punt and an interception.

Following the field goal, the Tartans’ remaining drives ended with an interception by Grant Peters, two punts and an interception by Nicholas Newsom.

Dana Hills was making its first appearance in a division semifinal since 1992.

The Dolphins notched 10 victories for the first time in school history, Henney said.

“We’ve been there before,” Henney said. We’ve had a lot of tight games all year and a lot of them we’ve pulled through. We just didn’t get it done today.”

Dana Hills football dealt devastating loss by Glendora in CIF-SS semifinals

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