La Quinta Puts It All Together to Smother La Mirada, 20-7

On most nights, La Quinta High School’s explosive offense needs a warning label. Something like, “Flammable! Keep away from heat.”

But Friday night, the Aztec defense ignited as well and La Mirada took the heat, losing a Southern Section Division VI semifinal, 20-7, in front of 3,000 at La Mirada.

“Our defense has been improving every week along with our offense, so it’s not surprising,” Aztec Coach Roger Takahashi said. “This was a team effort. We’re on fire.”

The Aztec offense almost never sputtered and, coupled with an impressive defensive effort, it was enough to make this game the kind La Quinta fans like--one that was over before the third quarter ended.

The Aztecs led, 17-7, at the half, then dominated the third quarter, scoring on a 40-yard Matt Logan field goal and keeping the Matadors (9-4) from recording so much as one first down.

“That took a lot of fire out of them,” Takahashi said.

La Quinta sacked Matador quarterback Chad Drown three times, all in the second half, and limited La Mirada to 215 yards in the game.

La Quinta quarterback Richard Weaver had his third 200-plus yard passing performance in as many playoff games, completing 13 of 21 passes for 207 yards and two touchdowns. He was intercepted once.

Aztec running back Trent Julian had 101 yards on 15 carries and 40 more yards in three receptions. Receiver Jason Cherms had another outstanding game with five catches for 99 yards and a touchdown.

La Quinta scored on three of its five first-half possessions with big plays.

In the first half, Weaver completed 10 of 13 passes for 179 yards and the two touchdowns, the first a six-yard completion to Todd Lee to cap a seven-play, 51-yard drive that put La Quinta ahead, 7-0.

He then collaborated with Cherms on a 65-yard touchdown pass play to put the Aztecs ahead, 14-7, in the second quarter.

Matt Logan added a 45-yard field goal with six seconds to play. It was set up by Cherms’ interception at his eight that ended La Mirada’s second of only three forays into Aztec territory.

The interception came with just 1:16 to play, but time is never a problem for the explosive Aztec offense.

Julian ripped off a 27-yard run and Weaver added a 12-yard completion to Todd Lee to set up Logan.

La Mirada’s only successful venture into Aztec territory, came in the second quarter. The Matador defense forced La Quinta to punt from its end zone. La Mirada took over at the Aztec 34 and 11 plays later, Joe Fernandez went in from the two for his team’s only score.

La Quinta (9-4) will make its first appearance in a title game since 1985, when the Aztecs lost to Saddleback, next Friday when it meets Corona del Mar.