SOUTHERN SECTION FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS : Division III : Paramount Outscores Diablos

Jack Manu threw 2 fourth-quarter touchdown passes to Ismael Lopez as Paramount High School held off a late Mission Viejo rally to score a 35-32 victory in a Southern Section Division III semifinal Friday at Paramount.

The Pirates, who trailed the Diablos, 25-21, after 3 quarters, took a 28-25 lead with 46 seconds gone in the final quarter on Manu’s 8-yard touchdown pass to Lopez. The play capped a 66-yard, 11-play drive which was aided by an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that put the ball at the Diablo 13.

Six minutes later, Paramount (11-1) extended its lead to 35-25 when Lopez broke 2 tackles after catching a pass and ran 66 yards for a touchdown.

Mission Viejo, which was hurt by 3 missed extra point attempts, narrowed Paramount’s lead to 3 points with 3 minutes left on Eric Ekdahl’s 3-yard run and extra point.

Mission Viejo (12-1) got one last chance to move into scoring position when the Diablos received a punt at their 32 with 2 minutes left. But the Diablos’ Troy Kopp was called for intentional grounding and he threw 3 incomplete passes to end the Diablos’ hopes of advancing to the final against Los Alamitos.

Kopp finished with 24 completions in 34 attempts for 267 yards and a 5-yard touchdown pass to Damon Williams with 1 minute left in the second quarter, giving the Diablos a 19-14 halftime lead.

Seven plays after Ekdahl missed a 29-yard field goal try, Paramount took a 7-0 lead when Clarence Chaney broke 3 tackles en route to scoring on a 5-yard run. The score was set up 2 plays earlier when Leon Neal ran 55 yards to the Diablo 5.

With 44 seconds left in the first quarter, Ekdahl tied the score with an 11-yard touchdown run and extra point.

The score capped an 88-yard, 8 play drive which saw Kopp complete 3 passes for 44 yards and Jim Higashi run twice for 24 yards.

Three plays after taking a Pirate punt at the Paramount 48 early in the second quarter, Mission Viejo used 3 plays to bring the ball to the Paramount 19. But with 2 minutes gone in the quarter, Paramount’s Jean Boyd intercepted a Kopp pass and returned it 87 yards for a touchdown.

Four minutes later, Ekdahl took a pitch from Kopp and threw an 8-yard touchdown pass to Eric Caederstaff to narrow Paramount’s lead to 14-13. Ekdahl’s kick failed, however.