INLAND FIELDHOUSE

RIVERSIDE – What impressed us most about the Ramona-Riverside Poly varsity football game on Friday, Nov. 24, 2023, was Ken Mushinskie’s composure to finish off the job.

The Rams coach previously led ML King from 2006-’09, and now has been at Ramona for the last eight years. Unable to make a dent in the Big VIII during some halcyon years for Centennial, Mushinskie moved down the hill to Ramona and has built a winner, collecting a 56-23 record and finally claiming a CIF section title in a game played at ML King High School.

Ken Mushinskie: “It was a tough first seven games and I think that we grew, we matured, and we definitely got better. Very similar to Poly. Poly had a rough go, they we’re 1-6 to start, and then got their ball rolling just like we did. WE matured immensely. They kids really started to buy into the system, into everything, and they had more experience. Even losing to Norte Vista, I thought that we took a huge step forward, and to get that at-large (playoff berth) and then kind of steamrolled through the first three games of the playoffs till we faced another tough Poly team, and we were able to put it together enough to get ourselves a win.”

Jarron Gilbert: “There were few big plays that we let get away from us, and a couple of mental errors there where we should’ve been in better position. (Ramona) played a good game. All credit to them. They were able to exploit those. It’s about eliminating mistakes and we were able to key in late in the season and get the kids to really lock in on their assignments, and when you do that that then you can play some good football. But things got away from us today and put us in a position where we had to try to come from behind. We’re here. We were expecting a tighter one here today but we’re up-and-coming and we’re going to compete and we’re going to fight moving forward.”

Ramona – 14 – 14 – 0 – 10 — 38
Riverside Poly – 7 – 3 – 7 – 0 — 17
First quarter
R – Tolbert 1 run (Martinez kick), 4:14
P – Thomas 5 run (Samosky kick), 1:25
R – Lerma 69 pass from Acosta (Martinez kick), 0:24
Second quarter
R – Mesa 1 fumble recovery (Martinez kick), 11:10
P – Samosky 26 FG, 4:23
R – Shinar 51 pass from Acosta (Martinez kick), 1:32
Third quarter
P – Thomas 1 run (Samosky kick), 3:21
Fourth quarter
R – Tolbert 67 run (Martinez kick), 5:38
R – Martinez 31 FG, 2:32
Team statistics
Total plays – Ramona 51; Riverside Poly 72.
First downs – Ramona 10; Riverside Poly 16.
Penalties – Ramona 7-75; Riverside Poly 5-45.
Turnovers – Ramona 1; Riverside Poly 2.
Individual statistics
Rushing – Ramona: Tolbert 17-156, Mesa 4-10, Shinar 1-4, Acosta 4-1; Riverside Poly: Monforte 11-86, Thomas 17-79, Morales 2-36, Caballero 3-(minus-1), Aguilar 8-(minus-9), team 1-(minus-25).
Passing – Ramona: Acosta 8-16-1-201; Riverside Poly: Aguilar 5-9-0-72, Caballero 5-15-1-30.
Receiving – Ramona: Lerma 3-75, Valenzuela 2-60, Shinar 1-51, Bracamonte 1-9, Ruiz 1-6; Riverside Poly: Henry 3-46, Padilla 2-20, Allen 3-18, Dominguez-Wales 1-14, Mathews 1-4
Interceptions – Ramona: Haring 1-0; Riverside Poly: Johnson 1-0.