He's guided teams to CIF Southern Section titles, a state title, and two bowl games.
Scott Altenberg hasn't had a team with only 12 seniors collect a league championship, until Friday night.
Serra, relying on backup running back and a sophomore quarterback who spent the night chasing bad snaps and fumbles, captured the Mission League crown with a 35-29 victory over visiting Chaminade.
"This one feels pretty good, I'm not going to lie to you," Altenberg said. "Just with us and how young and how crazy and how many mistakes. To be able to fight through this ... unbelievable."
Running back Ronnie Vaughn, stepping in for injured starter Anterio Bateman, rushed for 227 yards and two touchdowns and quarterback Jalen Greene rushed for 135 yards and two more touchdowns to lead Serra.
Each had a touchdown in the fourth quarter as the Cavaliers came back from a 22-20 deficit entering the final period.
"That's the crazy thing about us right now," Altenberg said. "We're a young team that has some terrible things happen to us and we still fight through it and keep going, which is a sign of our teams from the past. But they've all been littered with blue-chip guys and guys who have played for two or three years. Now it's a bunch of guys no one ever heard of stepping in."
Serra (8-2, 5-0) fumbled five times, losing two of them. They had four bad snaps, though Greene turned one that went over his head into a spectacular 3-yard touchdown run that put the Cavaliers ahead for good in the fourth quarter.
Another snap went over punter Eddie Garcia's head, but he scooped it up for a kick that went 6 yards, though it looked like a boomer under the circumstances.
But through it all, Vaughn kept going and going with balance-defying runs, finishing Serra's scoring with a 22-yard rush that included a 360-degree spin at the 5-yard line.
"That surprised me too," Vaughn said, smiling. "I did it, though."
"I don't think he has arches. I think he's got flat feet," was all Altenberg could offer as an explanation. "He's got spatulas down there."
Serra also got a 15-yard scoring run from freshman running back Malik Roberson, who added 51 yards rushing on six carries.
But all of it was barely enough to hold off Chaminade (8-2, 4-1), which fell behind 20-8 at halftime and stormed back behind running back Terrell Newby.
Held to a long run of 5 yards in the first half, Newby scored two of his three touchdowns in the third quarter, the second on a 47-yard burst. He had 112 of his 143 yards in the second half.
"We said to all of them, we've given them what they've gotten and it didn't have to be like that," Chaminade coach Ed Croson said of his team's approach after halftime. "We didn't take advantage of opportunities ... We had the quarterback tackled in the backfield a dozen times and he squirmed away and made big plays out of it."
Adorre Jackson's end-zone interception, when he ripped the ball away from receiver Elijah Dunston, was a huge lift for Serra in the third quarter.
[email protected]
Scott Altenberg hasn't had a team with only 12 seniors collect a league championship, until Friday night.
Serra, relying on backup running back and a sophomore quarterback who spent the night chasing bad snaps and fumbles, captured the Mission League crown with a 35-29 victory over visiting Chaminade.
"This one feels pretty good, I'm not going to lie to you," Altenberg said. "Just with us and how young and how crazy and how many mistakes. To be able to fight through this ... unbelievable."
Running back Ronnie Vaughn, stepping in for injured starter Anterio Bateman, rushed for 227 yards and two touchdowns and quarterback Jalen Greene rushed for 135 yards and two more touchdowns to lead Serra.
Each had a touchdown in the fourth quarter as the Cavaliers came back from a 22-20 deficit entering the final period.
"That's the crazy thing about us right now," Altenberg said. "We're a young team that has some terrible things happen to us and we still fight through it and keep going, which is a sign of our teams from the past. But they've all been littered with blue-chip guys and guys who have played for two or three years. Now it's a bunch of guys no one ever heard of stepping in."
Serra (8-2, 5-0) fumbled five times, losing two of them. They had four bad snaps, though Greene turned one that went over his head into a spectacular 3-yard touchdown run that put the Cavaliers ahead for good in the fourth quarter.
Another snap went over punter Eddie Garcia's head, but he scooped it up for a kick that went 6 yards, though it looked like a boomer under the circumstances.
But through it all, Vaughn kept going and going with balance-defying runs, finishing Serra's scoring with a 22-yard rush that included a 360-degree spin at the 5-yard line.
"That surprised me too," Vaughn said, smiling. "I did it, though."
"I don't think he has arches. I think he's got flat feet," was all Altenberg could offer as an explanation. "He's got spatulas down there."
Serra also got a 15-yard scoring run from freshman running back Malik Roberson, who added 51 yards rushing on six carries.
But all of it was barely enough to hold off Chaminade (8-2, 4-1), which fell behind 20-8 at halftime and stormed back behind running back Terrell Newby.
Held to a long run of 5 yards in the first half, Newby scored two of his three touchdowns in the third quarter, the second on a 47-yard burst. He had 112 of his 143 yards in the second half.
"We said to all of them, we've given them what they've gotten and it didn't have to be like that," Chaminade coach Ed Croson said of his team's approach after halftime. "We didn't take advantage of opportunities ... We had the quarterback tackled in the backfield a dozen times and he squirmed away and made big plays out of it."
Adorre Jackson's end-zone interception, when he ripped the ball away from receiver Elijah Dunston, was a huge lift for Serra in the third quarter.
[email protected]
http://www.dailybreeze.com/preps/ci_19321465
Source: Phil Collin, Staff Writer, Daily Breeze