Barons bow out in first round

COSTA MESA — Fountain Valley couldn’t establish its run game Friday and the Barons subsequently were run out of the CIF Southern Section football playoffs.

Orange Lutheran used a stable of running backs to produce time consuming drives to start both halves of a Pac-5 Division first-round game at Orange Coast College, then twice took advantage of a short field in the fourth quarter to put the game away as the visiting Lancers advanced with a 28-0 win over the Barons.

Fountain Valley managed just 27 yards on the ground and never crossed midfield in seeing its season end at 7-4. The Barons, who finished in a five-way tie for the Sunset League title and were the league’s second-place representative in the postseason, had only 69 yards of total offense.

“Our defense did a really great job in the first half to keep us in the game but we just couldn’t get our offense untracked,” Fountain Valley Coach John Shipp said. “We never really were able to set up our running game, which has been our bread-and-butter this year and has gotten us this far. But tonight, we couldn’t get anything going.

“We have a top-notch group of guys who are a class act and I’m sorry to see it end this way for them. The group I really feel for is our seniors. They were a great class of players.”

Orange Lutheran, tri-champion of the Trinity League but the league’s No. 3 playoff entry, improved to 9-2 and moves on to face No. 2-seed Notre Dame of Sherman Oaks in a second-round matchup Friday.

The Lancers couldn’t muster much offense themselves in the first half, finding the going tough against a fired-up Fountain Valley defense and struggling with penalties that negated several first-half drives.

They led by only 7-0 at the half. The only score in the first 24 minutes came on Orange Lutheran’s first possession of the game. An 11-play drive that covered 61 yards and took up nearly seven minutes culminated with a 13-yard scoring pass from Bobby Wheatley to Exavier Edwards. Parker Flynn added the conversion with 48 seconds left in the first quarter.

In the second quarter, the Lancers started drives at midfield and their own 46-yard line, but in both instances came away empty. They had another golden opportunity to pad their lead late in the first half when they recovered a fumble by the Barons’ Kyle Middlebrooks at the Fountain Valley 18-yard line with 2:40 left in the half. But the Barons’ defense stiffened. Junior defensive end Chad Smith made a big play when he dropped Kyle Dravis for a nine-yard loss on a second-down lateral pass. On the next play, the Lancers’ Brandon Turner caught an apparent touchdown pass from Wheatley but was called for pass interference. The 15-yard penalty forced the Lancers to attempt a 40-yard field goal with 11 seconds left but Fountain Valley, which had all three of its first-half timeouts left, used them consecutively as Shipp tried to ice Lancers kicker Parker Flynn. Last week, Flynn hit a 42-yard field goal in the closing seconds to give Orange Lutheran a 24-21 victory over Mater Dei.

But Shipp’s strategy worked as Flynn’s attempt was a low line drive that fell well short of the end zone. The stand gave Fountain Valley a boost at the break.

“That was a big stop by our defense and really pumped us up,” Shipp said. “We were still in the game but we gave up that score at the start of the second half and just couldn’t come back.”

Orange Lutheran opened the second half by grinding out a 16-play, 80-yard drive that consumed the first 8:23 of the third quarter clock. It ended with a one-yard keeper by Wheatley that made it 14-0.

The Lancers used a short field on two occasions in the fourth quarter to take command.

First, a 25-yard punt return by Scotty Williams set Orange Lutheran up at the Fountain Valley 26-yard line. Williams also took in an 18-yard pass from Wheatley on second down to put the Lancers at the five and two plays later, running back Kent Fleager scored from a yard out to make it 21-0 with 6:23 to play.

The Lancers’ final scoring drive covered just 21 yards after the Barons were hit with a personal foul penalty on a Williams punt return. Damani Wilson scored from two yards out with 1:59 left to cap the scoring.

Middlebrooks, who last week set a single-game rushing record for Fountain Valley during a 42-0 Nov. 13 victory over Marina, was held to 30 yards on 10 carries. Both numbers were a season-low for the junior.

In other CIF first-round playoff action involving local teams:

Southern Division

 Los Amigos 40, Segerstrom 37

East Valley Division

 Twenty Nine Palms 63, Brethren Christian 22

MIKE SCIACCA covers sports. He can be reached at (714) 966-4611 or by e-mail at michael.sciacca@latimes.com.