Prep football: Tars lose in overtime

Barry Faulkner

LA MIRADA - This time, the La Mirada High Matadores wouldn’t step

aside.

Instead, the unseeded hosts (11-1) extended their collective capes in

front of the Newport Harbor running game and rallied from a 10-7

fourth-quarter deficit to tie the game at 10 and win in overtime, 13-10,

in a CIF Southern Section Division VI football semifinal Saturday at La

Mirada.

The loss denied the Sailors a trip to their sixth title game in 10

years, an experience the Matadores will enjoy.

The victory avenged a 36-15 semifinal upset loss to Newport Harbor

last season. It did not come without drama.

Jared Martin, a junior varsity kicker the first eight weeks of the

season, kicked a 21-yard field goal in overtime for the win. The winning

boot came after Newport Harbor missed a 28-yard field goal on the first

possession of overtime.

Martin kicked a 43-yarder with two seconds left in regulation to erase

the Sailors’ only lead.

Newport Harbor earned that lead on back-to-back scoring drives in the

fourth quarter, the first of which began when safety Mike McDonald

returned his interception to his own 26-yard line.

The Sailors (10-2-1) drove 74 yards on eight plays to tie it, 7-7. A

29-yard pass from Morgan Craig to Adam Kerns put the Tars at the La

Mirada 1. After a procedure penalty, Craig hit Jon Vandersloot with a

6-yard touchdown pass with 5:45 left. Kerns’ conversion kick made it 7-7.

La Mirada went three and out after the ensuing kickoff and a 15-yard

punt set the Sailors up at the hosts’ 42.

Newport moved to the 22, before settling for a 39-yard Kerns field

goal they thought would be enough with 2:13 left.

La Mirada quarterback Chris Moreno, however, completed four passes and

scrmabled three times for 11 yards to move the Matadores to the Newport

Harbor 26.

After a Newport Harbor timeout to try to ice Martin, he boomed the

game into overtime and sent most of the 7,000 on hand into a frenzy.

The Sailors opened the overtime on offense at the La Mirada 25-yard

line.

A Craig pass to Vandersloot gained 11 yards and Dartangan Johnson

gained 3 more to the 11-yard line.

But after two incomplete passes, Coach Jeff Brinkley called for a

28-yard field goal try. The attempt hooked wide left.

La Mirada tailback Junior Vaca, as he had all night, took charge for

the Matadors offense in the overtime. He carried five times for the

5-yard line, before Martin came on to nail the game-winner.

La Mirada scored first by cashing in Newport’s first turnover of the

playoffs, a fumble on a sack recovered by Matador Justin Franz at the

Tars’ 19.

Two Vaca runs created first-and-goal at the 1, from where Moreno

scored on a sneak with 2:59 left in the first quarter.

An apparent La Mirada safety on Newport Harbor’s subsequent possession

was nullified by a defensive holding call.

But the Matador defense looked as if it could protect the 7-0 cushion.

Harbor’s vaunted running game produced just 48 yards on the ground.

The Sailors took to the air in the second half, when Craig threw for

112 of his 165 yards.

Vaca finished with 130 yards on 27 carries and Moreno threw for 106

more.

“It was a tough loss,” Brinkley said. “They hit some passes (on the

last possession of regulation). We needed to knock a pass down or get a

sack and we didn’t do either.”

Newport also missed a golden scoring opportunity late in the third

quarter, when a wide-open receiver dropped a would-be touchdown pass deep

in La Mirada territory.

La Mirada will face Suburban League rival Mayfair in Friday’s

championship game.