Southern Section Football Championships : Barons Find Bishop Amat Defenseless

It was a mismatch all the way.

Bishop Amat High School tried to cover Fountain Valley’s receivers with man-to-man coverage.

It didn’t work.

David Henigan, Fountain Valley quarterback, and a core of sure-handed receivers faced flimsy coverage from Bishop Amat and shredded it in the Division I championship game Friday night in Anaheim Stadium.

In many cases, especially in the first half, Bishop Amat defenders were nowhere in sight. The best they could do was to flag at Fountain Valley receivers as they went by for one sizable gain after another.

Once, Fountain Valley receiver Doug Weaver lined up and looked across to see no one covering him. Henigan completed that pass, which set up a touchdown, for 24 yards and a first down at the Lancers’ 2-yard line.

Henigan completed 15 of 19 passes for 191 yards and 2 touchdowns. He also ran 1 yard for another score.

Henigan, a senior, led the Barons to scores on their first four possessions. The fifth ended because of halftime. The sixth resulted in yet another touchdown and with 6:17 left in the third quarter, Fountain Valley led, 31-10.

As it turned out, Fountain Valley needed every one of those scores as Bishop Amat rallied before falling, 31-24.

“All year we tried to set the tempo and score first,” Henigan said. “We had to establish the run and we did. Then we figured we’d eat ‘em up passing.”

That proved to be accurate figuring.

The Barons’ first drive netted a 32-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Mike Cook, who left Loren Cannon nipping at his heels.

On the second drive, Cook burned Cannon again for a 20-yard gain into Bishop Amat territory. Five plays later, Henigan vaulted over from the 1 for the touchdown.

A minute into the second quarter, Kedric Powe scored on a 2-yard run. Another long pass to a wide open receiver set up the score. This time Henigan found Weaver uncovered for a 24-yard gain to the 2.

Four minutes later, Derek Mahoney kicked a 40-yard field goal, Fountain Valley held a 24-0 lead and Bishop Amat was left to ponder what had happened.

After Bishop Amat cut the lead to 24-10, Henigan added a 7-yard scoring pass to Cook for what proved to be the game-winning points. Cook caught a team-leading 7 passes for 100 yards.

“It was one of the best games of David’s career,” Cook said. “He’s a great player. He just got the ball to us when we got open.”

Which was early and often.

“It’s been great,” Henigan said of his 3 seasons as the Barons’ starting quarterback. “This is icing on the cake. We got a jump on them and made them have to come back.”

Bishop Amat got close, but in the end, thanks to Henigan, Fountain Valley left the Lancers too far behind to catch up.