Laguna Hills Falls Two Yards Short in 14-7 Loss to Agoura

Laguna Hills High School’s bid to advance to the Southern Section Division VIII semifinals came up two yards short Friday night against Agoura at Irvine High School.

Agoura held on to a 14-7 victory in front of 1,000 by stopping Laguna Hills’ Darrin Chapman at the two-yard line following a 23-yard pass from Mark Wells with no time remaining.

Agoura (9-3), the third-place team from the Frontier League, will play Orange Friday in the semifinals. Laguna Hills, which upset top-seed Yucaipa last week, finishes 6-6.

Wells competed four of eight passes for 54 yards on the final drive, which began at the Laguna Hills five with 1:22 left. An interference penalty with seven seconds left gave the Hawks the ball on the Agoura 35. On the following play, the Chargers were called for holding, which put the ball on the 25 with no time left.

Chapman then caught Wells’ pass at the five, but was tackled by Todd Cribari.

Wells, who hadn’t completed a pass until the fourth quarter, finished six of 16 for 63 yards and was intercepted once.

Agoura halfback Dave Caramanis scored on a two-yard run in the fourth quarter to break a 7-7 tie. Caramanis set up his score with runs of 23 and 20 yards on the 70-yard drive.

Chapman, who scored the Hawks’ touchdown on a 37-yard run in the third quarter, had 73 yards in 14 carries.