Los Alamitos Finally Meets and Defeats Cerritos, 17-14

Friday’s Southern Conference playoff game between Los Alamitos and Cerritos High Schools marked the first-ever meeting of the teams, despite their being situated just four miles apart.

It is so seldom Los Alamitos gets an opportunity to play Cerritos that the announcer at Hanford Rant Stadium at Gahr High School told the 2,900 spectators that some Cerritos fans were wondering just what their opponents’ mascot, the Griffin, actually was.

After Los Alamitos’ 17-14 victory, it’s not likely that the Cerritos supporters will have to ask again about the mythological eagle-lion creature. Cerritos (7-4) had not been to the playoffs since 1977 and was hoping to make the second round for the first time in school history.

Los Alamitos (10-1), co-champion of the Empire League, has had only slightly better luck. The Griffins went to the playoffs last year but lost in the first round to El Toro. Friday night’s victory means they will compete in the second round for the first time in eight years. Again, they will play El Toro.

In the first half alone, Cerritos, the second-place team from the San Gabriel Valley League, gained 226 yards, four more than the Griffins would manage all game. But the Cerritos offensive star, tailback Andre Wooten, left early in the third quarter with a bone bruise on the bottom of his foot.

Cerritos was holding a tenuous 7-3 lead at that point, and when Wooten was forced to consign his 182 yards rushing to the sideline, Los Alamitos seized the opportunity to take their first lead on the next drive.

The Griffins moved 63 yards on seven plays, the largest gains coming on pass receptions by Robby Katzaroff from quarterback J.T. Snow, son of former Los Angeles Ram Jack Snow. Near the end of the drive, Katzaroff caught his ninth pass of the game to tie the all-time Orange County single season receiving record of 81, set last season by Fullerton’s David Sepulveda.

Los Alamitos tailback Pat Brown, who went on to gain 70 yards on 16 carries, completed the drive with a seven-yard touchdown reception that gave the Griffins a 10-7 lead with 40 seconds left in the third quarter. It was the only Griffin pass of the game caught by someone other than Katzaroff.

Katzaroff, who finished the game with 11 catches for 144 yards, earned the record with a seven-yard reception later in the quarter. He also kicked a 36-yard field goal in the second quarter, caught an 18-yard pass for a 17-7 lead in the fourth quarter and kicked both extra points.