RIVERSIDE — Jake Valenzuela has been central to Ramona’s ability to push vertically down the field the last three seasons.

Wearing a jet black cowboy hat after Ramona’s 38-21 victory over Riverside Poly in the CIF-Southern Section Division 11 championship game, Valenzuela was right in the middle of the post-game celebration on Friday night.

“I feel good about what I’ve done these last few years at Ramona,” said Valenzuela, who has more than 100 career receptions and more than 2,000 receiving yards. “We were definitely ready to win this ring.”

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Valenzuela caught just two passes but also drew two influential pass-interference penalties, demanding enough attention from additional defenders to open up space for teammates Antonio Lerma and Kody Shinar to haul in touchdowns as the Rams (9-5 overall) claimed their first outright CIF-SS title.

With the win, Ramona will advance to play in the CIF State Division Regional playoffs next week.

“It’s been a crazy season but I’m forever grateful for this team, and now we have one more game,” Valenzuela said.

Poly’s defense came into the D11 final having allowed 21 points or less each of the last six weeks – all victories – but paid a price for playing single coverage early on against Valenzuela.

“I thought they’d play off Jake but they didn’t (and) they started pressing early so we took some shots down field,” Ramona coach Ken Mushinskie said. “We were able to take advantage of Jeremiah (Acosta) getting outside the pocket.”

After going three-and-out on their first drive, the Rams got moving on their second possession and quarterback Jeremiah Acosta went deep up the right side for Valenzuela for a 21-yard gain.

“The game plan was to go deep early and we either get a touchdown or we open up the running game,” Valenzuela said.

Combining for 53 receptions and more than 1,000 yards this season, Acosta and Valenzuela tried it again two plays later and earned a pass-interference penalty. Then, after a short loss by Sincere Tolbert, Acosta and Valenzuela connected for 39 yards to near the goal line before Tolbert punched it in for a 7-0 lead.

“We capitalized a little more and had some breakaway plays that went in our favor,” Mushinskie said.

That was more than enough to attract Poly’s safeties, who kept Valenzuela in check the rest of the way, while creating opportunities for his teammates.

“They doubled up a little bit but you just can’t do that when you have other receivers like Lerma and Shinar,” Valenzuela said.

Acosta hit Lerma, and Valenzuela provided a key downfield block in a 69-yard scoring play late in the first quarter, and Shinar grabbed a floater from Acosta and outran the defense for a 50-yard touchdown near halftime.

“Jake’s been ballin’ out this season which means attention’s on him,” Lerma said. “He gets us open and defenses are always worried about him and they don’t know we got other ballers on this team.”

Added Shinar: “Jake is just something else. Teams try to double cover him and that just opens up everything for us.”

Acosta completed six of his first eight pass attempts for 183 yards by halftime, and the Rams totaled more than 350 yards on offense in the win.