La Serna had a trilling victory and Cal and Santa Fe couldn’t rally for wins. Here are the game recaps for Thursday night.
La Serna 32, La Mirada 28
Despite falling behind by as many as 11 points in the fourth quarter, the Daily News’ No. 2-ranked La Serna High School football team mounted an improbable rally in defeating La Mirada, 32-28, in a thrilling nonleague game on Thursday at California High.
La Serna running back Richard Alvarez carried off tackle left from 28 yards for the game-winning touchdown with 1:38 remaining.
Even though La Mirada (1-3) received the ball, quarterback Shane Blood was sacked and the ball was recovered by linebacker Craig Jones with 43.6 seconds left to clinch it for La Serna.
The game appeared over when La Mirada’s Max Gama sacked La Serna quarterback Andrew Buenrostro on fourth down with less than two minutes remaining at midfield.
The Lancers (3-1), however, received the break of the game when the Matadores were called for a facemask penalty that extended the drive and allowed Alvarez to score.
La Serna had pulled within three on a 50-yard touchdown pass from Buenrostro to Connor Burke.
The Matadores took their biggest lead at 6:42 in the fourth quarter on a 2-yard carry by Alex Munoz.
La Mirada scored the only touchdown of the third quarter when Gama punched in his third score of the game on a 6-yard off-tackle carry on a fourth-and-1.
The Lancers led 17-14 following a first half that had five lead changes.
La Serna trailed by four with 3:30 remaining in the half when it marched 62 yards on 11 plays and scored on a 2-yard plunge by Jones with 28.2 seconds left.
A point after by sophomore Tavis Guerra cemented the score at 17-14.
Guerra kick-started the game’s scoring with a 31-yard field goal on La Serna’s opening drive that consumed 8:59 and spanned 69 yards.
La Mirada struck back with a 10-yard touchdown run from Gama that put La Mirada on top 7-3 with 5:44 in the second quarter.
Gama later rolled into the end zone behind the Matadores’ massive offensive line on a power sweep from 23 yards to give La Mirada a 14-10 lead with 3:37 left.
La Serna’s other first-half score came on a one-play drive in which Buenrostro hooked up on a 55-yard scoring pass to receiver Andrew Rosales on a scoring slant.
Here’s some audio from La Serna coach Margarito Beltran after the game –
Esperanza 21, Santa Fe 7
PLACENTIA — Esperanza High School, executing its triple option superbly, defeated visiting Santa Fe, 21-7, in a nonleague game Thursday at Valencia High.
Esperanza (2-2) began the game with two long scoring drives. On their first possession, the Aztecs went 76 yards in seven plays, with fullback Matt Sinclair running the final nine yards to open the game’s scoring.
After limiting Santa Fe to just one first down, the Aztecs needed 10 plays to go 67 yards as quarterback Austin Steele scored on an 8-yard scoring run to boost the lead to 14-0 with 26 seconds remaining in the first quarter.
Midway through the second quarter, the Chiefs had a touchdown drive of 10 plays that covered 63 yards.
Quarterback Justin Rincon passed 15 yards to Steven Hernandez to reduce the Chiefs’ deficit to 14-7 with just under four minutes left in the first half.
The key play in the drive was a fourth-down conversion when punter Manuel Meza ran for a first down near midfield.
On Esperanza’s next possession, the Aztecs were stopped when a 50-yard pass play ended with a tackle by Santa Fe defender Gael Esparza, who forced a fumble in the end zone.
It was recovered by Santa Fe’s Alex Mirola for a touchback late in the second quarter.
The third quarter was highlighted by two interceptions, one by Esperanza’s Brady Martinez and the other by Santa Fe’s Roderick Daniels, who returned it 52 yards.
Early in the fourth quarter, Esperanza culminated a 12-play, 68-yard drive with a 5-yard scoring run by Mike Mavibusan.
Mirola returned the ensuing kickoff 44 yards. The drive ended on an interception in the Esperanza end zone.
In the game’s final two minutes, the Chiefs executed a goal-line stand with tackles by Joe Valdez, Esparza, Kevin Granados and Esparza on fourth down.
Sonora 34, California 14
LA HABRA — Zach Ouderkerken passed for 216 yards and three touchdowns to lead Sonora High School to a 34-14 victory over winless California in a nonleague game on Thursday at La Habra High.
The host Raiders (4-0), who led 20-14 at halftime, took control in the second half against the Condors (0-3) by scoring on their first possession of the third quarter.
Baba Eko scored on a 1-yard run that capped an 11-play, 70-yard drive.
Sonora capped the scoring in the fourth quarter with a 25-yard pass from Ouderkerken to Alex Villagomez with 11:25 remaining.
Ouderkerken’s passing helped stake Sonora to a 20-14 lead at the half.
Ouderkerken completed 8 of 13 attempts for 151 first-half yards and two touchdowns.
California’s Drew Castro completed 5 of 9 passes for 85 yards and a touchdown.
The host Raiders scored first on Eko’ 6-scoring run with 2:31 remaining in the first quarter but missed the extra point.
The touchdown run completed a 5-play, 21-yard drive set up by a blocked punt.
The Condors briefly took a 7-6 lead on a 45-yard touchdown pass from Ben Siepak to Maximo Gonzales on a double-reverse flea-flicker with 10:18 left in the second quarter that gave the Condors a 7-6 advantage.That was the final play of an 8-play, 68-yard drive.
Sonora, however, rallied and went ahead 20-7 on an Ouderkerken scoring pass of 47 yards to Jakob McCarthy and 14 yards to Nico DiVincenzo.
The first one went 47 yards to McCarthy with 9:18 left in the second quarter. Ouderkeerken’s other scoring pass covered 14 yards and went to DiVincenzo.
