Griffins Come Back to Beat Hart : Division III: Los Alamitos quarterback Carey passes for 261 yards and four touchdowns.

Los Alamitos rallied to beat Newhall Hart, 37-23, in a Southern Section Division III semifinal game on a rainy Saturday night at College of the Canyons.

Los Alamitos quarterback Tim Carey, a 6-foot-4, 174-pound junior, completed 13 of 19 passes for 261 yards and four touchdowns. The Griffins will play Esperanza in Saturday’s title game.

Hart quarterback Ryan Connors, who entered the game with 3,764 yards and 37 touchdowns, completed 32 of 56 passes for 399 yards and two touchdowns.

Los Alamitos erased a 23-21 deficit in the second half with two touchdown passes by Carey, and held Hart scoreless.

Carey hit Jeff Stein with a 56-yarder in the third quarter and George Sagen with a 39-yarder four minutes later.

Hart blew three scoring opportunities in the third quarter that cost the Indians the game.

“We figured it was a tie game at halftime,” Los Alamitos Coach John Barnes. “We were a little tired with their no-huddle stuff in the first half, but we caught our breath in the second half.”

Los Alamitos drove 83 yards in 11 plays to take a 7-0 first-quarter lead. Fullback Alex Lin carried one yard for the touchdown.

The lead changed hands three times in the second quarter, during which Hart scored 23 points.

Connors dived one yard for a touchdown on the first play of the quarter and Hart trailed 7-6.

The Griffins took a 14-6 lead on a 16-yard touchdown pass from Carey to Don Ruberio.

Connors countered with his first touchdown pass, an eight-yarder to Doug Distaso on fourth down to cap an 11-play, 74-yard drive. Deriek Charles ran for a conversion to tie the score, 14-14.

Hart’s Tim Cronk converted a 32-yard field goal to give Hart its first lead, 17-14.

Los Alamitos regained the lead with 49 seconds to play in the half on a four-yard touchdown pass from Carey to Sagen.

Connors, who completed 18 of 26 passes for 191 yards in the half, hit Davis Delmatoff in the corner of the end zone for a 22-yard scoring play on the final play of the half to give the Indians a 23-21 lead.