HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS : ROUNDUP : Point Loma Rolls in Second Half

Point Loma High defeated Sweetwater, 42-10, in a first-round San Diego Section football playoff game Saturday at Point Loma, a testimony to the Pointers’ superior size and passing attack, which happens to be the most productive in the county.

But despite the lopsided score, 104 players, a dozen or so coaches and approximately 1,500 witnesses will contend that this was a good football game.

For 24 minutes, the Red Devils had upset on their minds, taking a 10-7 lead at the half. No. 6 Point Loma (7-4) then came out and scored 35 second-half points to advance to the quarterfinals Friday against Orange Glen (6-5).

Sweetwater, which had won four in a row and five of its past six, finished 5-6.

“My hat’s off to Point Loma,” said Sweetwater Coach Andy Sanchez. “They knew they were down, but they responded like a Bennie Edens team always does.”

Said Edens, in his 35th year at Point Loma: “We came out playing a lot better ball in the second half, no doubt about it. The kids really played up-tempo.”

On its second play after halftime, following a 29-yard kickoff return by Marlon Manassa, Point Loma quarterback Danny White connected with J.J. Stokes for a 54-yard gain to the Sweetwater two. A face-mask penalty on Michael Platt, who saved the touchdown, gave Point Loma a first and goal at the one. White took the snap and dived over to give Point Loma a 14-10 lead.

One minute 37 seconds later--following Jody Vickery’s one-handed interception, which gave the Pointers the ball on the Sweetwater 14--White scored again from one yard out to give Point Loma a 21-10 lead. The Pointers would score three more times before it was over--White connecting 18 yards with Brett Callan, Manassa running 50 yards up the middle and Michael Driver returning an interception 60 yards.

White, the county’s leading passer with a 252.2-yard average coming in, finished with 176 yards, completing 12 of 18 passes. Callan, the county’s leading receiver with 59 catches, added six more for 71 yards. Manassa had 108 rushing yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries.

Sweetwater built its lead with 10 points in the second quarter. David Gregorio (eight of 23 for 149 yards) found John Gilbert (five catches, 73 yards) in the end zone for a 10-yard score, and Javier Garcia kicked a 34-yard field goal.

On the touchdown pass to Stokes, his only catch of the day despite being the fifth-leading receiver in the county with 54 catches, White turned a broken play into the game’s finest.

Back to pass, White stood in the pocket for about five seconds, checking off covered receivers downfield. A seam opened to his left, and White dashed toward the sideline looking to pick up the six yards needed for the first down. But before reaching the line of scrimmage, he flipped a pass 25 yards over the drawn-in Sweetwater coverage to a wide-open Stokes.