SOUTHERN SECTION FOOTBALL SEMIFINALS : Central Conference : Valencia Rallies to Beat Sunny Hills

Tim Imperiali’s only mistake Friday night was that he tried too hard.

The Sunny Hills High School running back was going for that extra yard in the second overtime period that would have given the Lancers a touchdown and a victory over Valencia in a Central Conference semifinal game.

Imperiali, with Sunny Hills trailing, 17-14, took a handoff from the three-yard line and was stopped at the one. He battled his tackler and lunged forward in an effort for the end zone but the ball popped out of his hand upon impact with the goal line.

Valencia’s Dorian Estes recovered the fumble in the end zone and the Tigers held on for a 17-14 victory in front of 4,500 in Fullerton District Stadium.

The victory, which sent Valencia into next week’s championship game against Bolsa Grande, completed a remarkable comeback--in which the Tigers had trailed for most of the game, failed to score on two plays from inside the one-yard line in the fourth quarter and finally scored with 1:07 remaining in regulation to tie it, 7-7.

All of Valencia’s scoring came after a 20-minute blackout that occurred after the main circuit breaker controlling the stadium lights had apparently tripped.

With 1:54 left in the fourth period, the entire stadium, with the exception of the press-box lights, went dark. It took about 20 minutes for the lights to heat up to full capacity, and the game finally continued.

Then the lights really went out on Sunny Hills.

The Lancers had the ball on their own 25-yard line with a 7-0 lead and only needed to gain a first down to put themselves in position to run the clock out. But on their second play, quarterback David Chisum fumbled after being hit by Valencia linebacker Kevin Barton, and Jason Cruz recovered for the Tigers.

Three plays later, on a third-and-10 play from the 23, Valencia quarterback Chris DeRisio, who was suffering through a 2-for-18 game up to that point, found Richard Nelson in the left corner of the end zone for a touchdown. Nelson wrestled the ball away from Lancer cornerback Gene Schutt, and Paul Rivera kicked the extra point for a 7-7 tie.

Sunny Hills couldn’t score in the final minute, so the game went to the California Tiebreaker, in which each team gets four plays from the 10-yard line to score.

Imperiali, who scored Sunny Hills’ first touchdown in the second quarter, ran 10 yards and Carlos Miramontes kicked the extra point to give the Lancers a 14-7 lead in the first overtime.

On Valencia’s first possession, DeRisio teamed with Nelson again for a 10-yard scoring pass and Rivera added the extra point for a 14-14 tie.

The Lancers appeared to be in good shape in the second overtime when linebacker Scott Edmunds sacked DeRisio for an eight-yard loss on the Tigers’ first play. Estes gained two yards and a pass to Mike Edwards netted six yards for Valencia.

Rivera then came on to kick a 27-yard field goal to give Valencia a 17-14 lead.

Sunny Hills had four plays to either tie or win. Imperiali gained seven yards on his first two carries, but then came his fateful third try, in which he fumbled the ball away.

Sunny Hills held a 7-0 lead at halftime, but it should have been more. Imperiali returned a punt 47 yards for an apparent touchdown late in the first period, but the score was called back because of a blocking-below-the-waist penalty.

Imperiali also had a 28-yard run on the Lancers’ second play from scrimmage that was nullified by a clipping penalty.

Sunny Hills finally managed to put together an error-free drive, albeit a short one, early in the second quarter for the only touchdown of the half. Imperiali gave the Lancers excellent field position, on the Tiger 31-yard line, by returning a punt 27 yards.

From there, Bryan Edmonds ran 11 yards up the middle and Chisum threw a pass to Eric Carpenter, good for eight yards.

Chisum’s quarterback sneak gave Sunny Hills a first and goal at the eight yard line, and Imperiali did the rest, taking a handoff and running around the right side for the touchdown with 8:40 left in the second quarter. Carlos Miramontes added the extra point.

Valencia didn’t come close to scoring in the first half. Five of the Tigers seven possessions began on or inside their own 20-yard line. When Valencia did get good field position, on its 45-yard line midway through the first quarter, Keef Leasure fumbled and Scott Edmonds recovered for the Lancers.