SCC Continues Winning Habit, Beats Rosamond : Division X: Jacot ties county record and Amundson rushes for 174 yards as Flames overcome deficit to win, 20-10.

Talk about quantum leaps.

Never in its 13 seasons of playing 11-man football had Southern California Christian won a Southern Section playoff game. Not until this year, that is.

On Friday night at Western High, the Flames beat Rosamond, 20-10, in a Division X semifinal game for their third victory of the playoffs and a berth in the championship game next Friday against the winner of tonight’s game between Calvary Chapel and Village Christian.

Again the Flames (11-2) used their overpowering running game sparked by Mike Jacot and Dennis Amundson to win.

Jacot, who entered the game with 1,762 rushing yards, scored touchdowns on runs of eight and 21 yards to tie the all-time county single-season touchdown record of 34 set by Ron Papazian of Whittier Christian in 1989.

The junior tailback only carried 11 times for 138 yards, but one of those was a 71-yard run late in the third quarter that gave the Flames a first and 10 at the Rosamond 12-yard line. The drive stalled, however, on a fumble by Fred Cancino at the two with the Flames already holding the 20-10 lead.

Amundson, on the other hand, had one of his busiest nights with the ball, carrying 24 times for a game-high 174 yards and one touchdown.

That score, on a 50-yard run up the middle early in the fourth quarter, resulted in the final points of the game.

Rosamond (10-3) took a 3-0 lead on the first series on a 22-yard field goal by Arnulfo Morga with 8 minutes 34 seconds left in the first quarter after the Roadrunner drive stalled at the Southern California Christian five-yard line.

The Roadrunners opened a 10-0 lead about three minutes later after recovering a Nathan Lambie fumble at the Flames’ 28-yard line on the kickoff after the field goal. They got the ball into the end zone on five plays, including a three-yard touchdown run by quarterback Josh Jones.

But that was the last noise Rosamond made offensively. Southern California Christian revealed a new look defensively the Roadrunners couldn’t solve.

“It was a matter of a few adjustments,” said Bert Esposito, the Southern California Christian coach. “Right before halftime we switched to a 50 defense and that baffled them. We normally play a 40 (defense).”

The Flames limited Rosamond to 31 yards passing and 177 rushing. But of those rushing yards, only 65 came in the second half.

By the same token, Rosamond held the Flames, which averaged 34 points in their previous 12 games, well below that average. Esposito didn’t mind.

“We were playing a 10-2 team,” he said. “Twenty points against a team like that, I’ll take it.”