SOUTHERN SECTION FOOTBALL SEMIFINALS : Southern Conference : El Toro, Santa Ana Coast Into Final : Lee Scores 20 as Saints Top Lynwood, 26-6

Larry Anderson, Lynwood High School coach, is very good at what he does.

If you want to know what Lynwood had to do to win its Southern Conference semifinal game against Santa Ana, Anderson would have told you: Stop Robert Lee, cut down on turnovers and get an early lead.

But that isn’t what he saw last night at Lynwood High School.

Lee gained more than 100 yards in the first half, Lynwood turned the ball over and Santa Ana took the early lead. It was academic after that.

Santa Ana came away with a 26-6 victory Friday, and will make its second straight appearance in the Southern Conference final, this time against El Toro.

The game grew to form midway through the first quarter. Lynwood punter Victor Johnson could not handle a slick ball and fumbled on his own 14-yard line.

Santa Ana took over and four plays later, Lee scored on a three-yard run.

The extra point attempt failed, and Santa Ana had a 6-0 lead with 5:54 left in the first quarter.

Exactly two minutes later, Santa Ana quarterback Richard Fanti handed off to Lee at the Santa Ana 19-yard line. Lee blasted straight up the middle into the secondary, where he found absolutely no one waiting for him. A few seconds later Lee scored his second touchdown, and after another conversion failed, Santa Ana had a 12-0.

There was no one in the secondary because Lynwood plays an eight-man front designed to snuff the run.

“I went straight through,” Lee said. “Once I got past the line, there was no one left. They were really concerned with stopping me at the line.”

It seems all Lynwood’s concern was for naught. Lee, who had averaged 206 yards a game in the seven weeks previous to the Lynwood game, rushed for 125 yards in the first half. He ended the game with 159 yards, 3 touchdowns and a conversion run. He scored 20 of Santa Ana’s 26 points.

The other six came from Tony Mosley.

When Lynwood’s Johnson had trouble fielding another punt snap in the second quarter, it was Mosley who chased after him.

When Johnson finally caught up to the ball in his own end zone, it was Mosley who fell on him. Johnson lost control of the ball, Mosley grabbed it and scored another Santa Ana touchdown.

That came with 7:47 left in the second quarter and with Lee’s conversion run, gave Santa Ana a 20-0 lead.

The Knights depend on the run to win, but when you’re trailing by 20 points it becomes a hindrance.

“We’re a ball control team, we’re not going to come back and score a bunch in a hurry,” Anderson said.

Anderson had also said before the game that he didn’t want to throw the ball. But his team did in the second half, suprisingly well.

Quarterback Keith Nixon guided the Knights down to the Santa Ana 17. But receiver Terrell Manns dropped a pass in the end zone on a fourth-down play, and the drive was dead.

The Knights would score later in the third quarter, on a six-yard run by Austin McCowan, but the score was set up by two passes for 35 yards.

That touchdown gave Lynwood brief hopes of a comeback, but those hopes were dashed when Lee capped a Santa Ana drive with an 11-yard touchdown run.

“We weren’t as intense in the second half as the first,” Lee said.

“But we came out of it all right. I’m just glad to get back to the finals.”