Darnell Miller leads Santee to win city sectional championship

Friday was just another day at the office for Darnell Miller.

The Santee senior arrived on time, rushing for 190 yards and three touchdowns, and quickly finished as the Falcons outlasted Hawkins 35-6 to win the city Section III championship at Birmingham High.

Watching from the sidelines, as he does nearly every game, was Darnell’s 10-year-old brother, Frederick, a fifth-grader at Eighteenth Street Elementary who picks Darnell up from school and brings him to practice every day.

“What I love most about this sport is all the friends I’ve made. … I’m a shy person, but it’s challenged me a lot, taught me discipline and taking care of my responsibilities,” said Miller, who prefers soccer despite playing guard on the basketball team in the winter and running for the track team in the spring. “I just do what I do. It’s my last year, so I want to finish strong.”

Darnell Miller and his 10-year-old brother, Frederick, pose with the city championship trophy and plaque after Santee’s victory in the third round.

(Steve Gallozzo/The Times)

Miller started the day averaging 15.1 yards, rushing for 3,103 yards and 37 touchdowns, and wasted no time adding to those totals against the second-ranked Hawks (10-3). He capped Santee’s first drive with an 11-yard touchdown run, added a five-yarder in the second quarter and a nine-yarder in the third quarter to make it 35-0. Quarterback Danian Alvarado scored the Falcons’ other two touchdowns on runs of one and 13 yards.

“Darnell is a very hard-working, humble young man and everything you want a captain to be,” Santee coach John Petty said. He said he guided the Falcons to their only other city title in 2018. “He’s the first one in the locker room and the last one to leave.”

The victory capped a dominant run for the No. 1 seed Falcons (10-4), who have outscored their four playoff opponents by an average margin of 29 points.

The Hawks averted a shutout midway through the fourth quarter when Justin Cortez capped a 10-play, 55-yard drive with a five-yard scoring run.

His job done, Miller sat out the entire fourth quarter (40 rushing, one receiving and two on kickoff returns) after increasing his touchdown total to 43 touchdowns this season. Despite the impressive stats, Miller received just one scholarship offer – from Pikeville, an NAIA program in Kentucky.

“My goal is to keep playing, wherever that is,” Miller said.