Patrick Courtney’s only reception of the season...

Patrick Courtney’s only reception of the season was a big one for Paraclete as it came on a 20-yard touchdown pass from Craig Herrera with 51 seconds left in the first half against Montclair Prep and broke a 6-6 tie.

Courtney, a junior, had split time at tight end with Jason Joyce for most of the season. But he became the full-time starter after Joyce sustained a knee injury in a playoff quarterfinal against Big Bear.

“He scored on the same type of play that we had run earlier in the game,” Cortez said. “[Herrera] had been looking to throw to Michael [Washington] on that play, but this time he was looking for Patrick.”

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Paraclete and St. Bonaventure, two small, powerful parochial programs, have been playing each other during the regular season for the past 25 years. But Paraclete is looking to schedule a new opponent next season.

“We’re not where they are as a program,” Cortez said when asked about the probable change. “They are a complete program. They have [a varsity, freshman-sophomore and freshman team] while we have [a varsity and junior varsity team]. That’s a major advantage on their part. We want to get to where they are, but we’re not there yet.”

St. Bonaventure, which won its second consecutive Division XI title with a 34-16 victory over Orange Lutheran on Saturday, defeated Paraclete, 51-0 and 38-11, the last two seasons.

But Paraclete twice defeated the Seraphs, 27-26 and 42-16, in the games before that.

Paraclete is also looking for opponents for the fourth and fifth games of next season.

The Spirits defeated Monroe, 42-12, in the fourth game this season and were awarded a forfeit victory over Fontana Ambassador Christian in the fifth after that school said it didn’t have enough healthy players to field a team.