Los Alamitos, Gragnano Strike Late in 7-0 Victory

Los Alamitos High School used a stubborn defense and got just enough offense to defeat Tustin, 7-0, Thursday in a nonleague football game in front of about 900 at Gahr High School.

Los Alamitos is 1-0-1 after last week’s 28-28 tie with Kennedy. Tustin (0-2) has yet to score this season. Last week, Foothill shut out the Tillers, 10-0.

The only touchdown Thursday came in the fourth quarter on a 4-yard bootleg by quarterback Todd Gragnano with 6:19 left.

The drive was set up when David Haub intercepted a pass on the Los Alamitos 30 and returned it 8 yards.

After a short run on the first play, Gragnano completed a 13-yard pass to Ron Monninger to get the ball to the Tustin 47. The big play of the drive came when Gragnano kept the ball on a bootleg and ran 12 yards to the Tustin 4.

Tustin’s inside linebackers were in a blitz and both got caught inside on the play. The Tillers also were called for a face-mask penalty on the bootleg and Los Alamitos had first down on the 2.

After two dive plays into the middle each lost a yard, Gragnano kept the ball on another bootleg and scored untouched.

“We eliminated a lot of mistakes tonight,” Los Alamitos Coach John Barnes said. “Our offensive line is all new (two seniors and three juniors) and it took them a while to click. But then it finally did on that last drive.”

Tustin did manage to mount a final drive with the help of a pass interference call, but the Los Alamitos defense came through one last time.

Tustin had a third down and eight on the Los Alamitos 32 with 1:49 left. But Giovanni Catalano and Jack Grumet sacked Tustin quarterback Monte Jones for a 9-yard loss. Los Alamitos had five sacks.

Jones’ desperation pass on fourth down was incomplete with 46 seconds left. Los Alamitos then ran two plays and the game was over.

Los Alamitos’ defense allowed 145 yards in total offense including 71 in rushing by Visko Ancich.

Tustin’s defense allowed Los Alamitos only 157 yards in total offense. But the Griffins were without starting fullback Eric Caesar, who is suffering from shin splints. Caesar had 131 yards rushing last week. Gragnano was 12 of 24 for 92 yards with 1 interception. He also rushed for 20 yards.