PREP FOOTBALL : Empire League : Los Alamitos Wins on Last-Second Score

Los Alamitos High School, which had never beaten Esperanza in the teams’ four previous annual games, finally ended the losing streak Thursday night, but it needed every second to accomplish it.

As the final seconds ticked off the clock, Griffin quarterback J.T. Snow scrambled and connected with receiver Rob Katzaroff for a 17-yard touchdown pass, to give Los Alamitos a 24-21 Empire League win over Esperanza at Gahr High School in front of a homecoming crowd of 4,000.

Los Alamitos is 2-0 in league and 5-0 overall. The Aztecs dropped to 1-1 and 1-4.

“Did anyone in the world think we could pull that one out?” John Barnes, the Griffin coach, asked amid the postgame hysteria.

Well, coach, it did look pretty bleak.

With 54 seconds remaining, Esperanza quarterback Greg Beckman hit receiver John Ledesma with a 23-yard touchdown pass on fourth down to give the Aztecs a 21-17 lead.

Los Alamitos then took over at its own 23 with just 41 seconds left. On first down, Snow threw an incomplete pass, but Esperanza was called for pass interference. That gave the Griffins a first down at the 38-yard line. Snow then completed a sideline pass to Katzaroff, who stepped out of bounds at the Esperanza 45 with 29 seconds on the clock. Following an incomplete which ensued, Snow then hit Katzaroff again, this time for 13 yards.

With a first down from the 32, and just 19 seconds to go, Snow was unable to locate an open receiver, so he scrambled and ran for 11 yards. He got out of bounds to stop the clock with 13 seconds left. After another incomplete pass, Snow was again forced out of the pocket and again he picked up a gain and stopped the clock. That left five seconds to go, and Los Alamitos had a third down at the 17.

Snow then dropped back, was pressured out of the pocket by two Aztec pass rushers, then found Katzaroff on a slant pattern over the middle for the score on a play that ended with no time left on the clock.

It Snow’s third touchdown pass of the game.

In the first half, he hit tight end Don DuBry on a 14-yard touchdown pass, which gave the Griffins a 7-0 lead. Katzaroff kicked a 35-yard field goal with 6:24 in the second period, giving Los Al a 10-0 halftime lead.

But the Aztecs came back strong in the second half and scored touchdowns on each of their first two possessions. At 5:45, Beckman hit Ledesma with a 15-yard scoring strike. Then, fullback Lee Malcolm capped a 66-yard drive with a 14-yard run for a score. The Griffins regained the lead early in the fourth quarter, when Snow tossed a 10-yard touchdown pass to tailback Neil Sorensen,to put Los Alamitos ahead, 17-14.