From: North County Times

CARSON ---- Tyler Gaffney's wish was to play well on the big stage.

Saturday night in the 2008 CIF State Championships, the senior running back from Cathedral Catholic High put on a performance worthy of a Tony Award.

Gaffney scored all five of his team's touchdowns, had a record-setting 329 yards rushing, caught two passes for 23 yards, completed a pass for 30 yards, had six tackles on defense and blocked a kick. All that was enough to lead the Dons to a thrilling 37-34 victory over Stockton St. Mary's in the Division II title game at the Home Depot Center.

His name won't go up in lights on Broadway. And he won't get a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Gaffney's name, however, will be prominent in the record book. He set three bowl game records and four CIF San Diego Section single-season records, including yards (2,787), points (336) and touchdowns (56).

"If there was ever a time to do it, this was the time," said Gaffney, who has narrowed his college choices to USC, Stanford and Notre Dame. "Winning a state title means everything. It means we have a real team.

"And to perform well here is just icing on the cake."

The game was a seesaw affair and wasn't decided until Josh Jacko knocked down St. Mary's fourth-down pass attempt with 2:09 to play. Then, on third-and-6 from the Dons' 37 with 42 seconds left, Gaffney hauled in a 16-yard pass from quarterback Parker Hipp to kill the last hope for St. Mary's (12-3).

"Wow, what a track meet," Cathedral Catholic coach Sean Doyle said after the teams combined for 71 points and 1,051 total yards, 590 of them by the Dons. "We put Tyler Gaffney on the big stage and he showed what the best back in California can do. He put on an absolute show. He's amazing, just amazing.

"What's more important is that he's the most humble young man I've ever been around."

On the first play of the fourth quarter, Gaffney was humbled when the ball was punched from his hands at the end of an 18-yard run, and Andy Hurst recovered the fumble for St. Mary's. Eight plays later, St. Mary's quarterback Cody Vaz hit Alex Pascale with a 10-yard scoring pass to give the Rams their first lead of the game at 27-23 with 9:38 to play.

But Cathedral Catholic (14-0) was far from finished. Hipp hit Brad Harrington with a 31-yard pass on third-and-4 from the Dons' 36 to keep the drive alive. And on a fourth-and-9 from the St. Mary's 31, the Dons dug deep into the playbook, with Gaffney taking a handoff from Hipp, sweeping right, then completing a 30-yard pass to his quarterback, who was wide open in the left flat.

On the next play, Gaffney bulled into the end zone from the 1.

"The play is called '58 Parker,' " said Hipp, who completed 9-of-11 passes for 191 yards. "It was there all night, and Coach Doyle wanted to call it earlier. But I asked him to save it until we really needed it.

"We really needed right then."

That score gave the Dons a 30-27 lead with 6:10 to play, but Chad West's 96-yard kickoff return for a touchdown put the Rams back ahead 34-30 with 5:54 to play.

Rarely trailing in a dominant season, the Dons needed just three plays and 58 seconds to cover 65 yards, with Gaffney going the final 51 for a 37-34 lead.

All that was left was for the Dons to hold the record-setting Vaz in check. The Oregon State-bound quarterback completed 31-of-46 passes for 336 yards and four TDs ---- all bowl records.

"I thought we could move the ball, and we did." Vaz said. "Cathedral is a great team. We just came up a play short in the end."

St. Mary's coach Tony Franks had a feeling the game would be a shootout.

"We've been in a few of them this season, and I thought this one might be, too," he said. "I couldn't be more proud of my team. The resiliency we showed, the things we did, were amazing. Absolutely, we're winners.

"But I'll tell you, Tyler Gaffney is a tremendous, tremendous football player. To do what he did in a state championship game is truly amazing.

"Rarely do great players live up to the hype. He did."

Contact staff writer John Maffei at (760) 740-3547 or jmaffei@nctimes.com.