PREP FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS / SOUTHERN CONFERENCE : Los Alamitos Does It With Offense, 32-17

Los Alamitos High School’s touted defense finally ran into an offense it couldn’t handle Friday night, but the Griffins supplied some offensive punch of their own, courtesy of running back Marcus Garcia, to defeat Lynwood, 32-17, in a Southern Conference playoff opener at Hanford Rants Stadium in Cerritos.

Garcia, a 5-foot-11, 181-pound senior, rushed for 171 yards and two touchdowns, enabling Los Alamitos to overcome its defensive problems.

Lynwood (7-4) mounted a solid rushing attack, with quarterback Charles Levy and running backs Carl Markay and Roy Turner combining to keep the pressure on the Los Alamitos defense.

Levy’s three-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-goal with 7:29 left in the third period gave the Knights their only lead, 14-10.

But then Los Alamitos’ one-man rushing attack kicked into action. Garcia, after pounding away at the Lynwood defense all game, broke loose for scoring runs of 34 and 28 yards to lead the Griffins into the second round of the playoffs.

Los Alamitos Coach John Barnes said Lynwood’s defense concerned itself too much with stopping the Griffins’ other back, Frank Beckton, thus allowing Garcia to take over.

“Marcus really came on for us in the second half,” Barnes said. “We usually like to run Frank more, but they took that away from us, so that opened things up for Marcus.”

In the second, Los Alamitos (10-1) will face Villa Park, a 21-19 upset winner over Capistrano Valley Friday night.