PREP FOOTBALL : Los Alamitos Has Best Mudslingers : Showdown: Tim Carey throws for 150 yards and George Sagen catches three touchdown passes to lead 34-14 victory over Esperanza.

The Big Game turned out to be a big flop in the mud.

Los Alamitos, second-ranked in Orange County, went for a romp in the squishy stuff to beat top-ranked Esperanza, 34-14.

It wasn’t close, mainly because Los Alamitos quarterback Tim Carey showed, in addition to all his other skills, he’s a pretty good mudder.

Three first-half touchdown passes to George Sagen were all Los Alamitos needed to beat its long-distance Empire League rival before an overflow crowd of 8,000 at Valencia High.

The conditions were dreadful. An afternoon rain turned most of the field into a muddy mess. To make matters worse, Anaheim and Valencia played a junior varsity game during the shower, which turned the chewed-up field into conditions that only a pig could love.

When the mud bath was over, both Esperanza Coach Gary Meek and Los Alamitos Coach John Barned lauded Carey as the state’s best quarterback.

His final totals were nowhere near a career best, but with all that mud it was difficult to argue that he is indeed a prized recruit.

Carey, a senior who came into the game as Orange County’s top-rated quarterback, completed 10 of 20 passes for 150 yards with three touchdowns. He was intercepted once.

“The guy is probably the best quarterback in the state, maybe the country, who knows?” Meek said.

Said Barnes, “You guys don’t know how good he is. Our offensive line did a great job, and so did the receivers.”

Sagen finished with seven receptions for 101 yards.

Esperanza defensive lineman Travis Kirscke, thought to be the best at his position in the state, was never really a factor. And the Aztecs’ ground game was stuck in the mud.

Los Alamitos, which defeated Esperanza, 8-0, for the Southern Section Division III title last season, improved its record to 8-0, 3-0 in Empire League play.

“I think this was probably the biggest regular-season victory because of all the hype, “ Barnes said.

Esperanza is 7-1, 2-1.

Despite the conditions, Los Alamitos came out firing and led, 28-14, by halftime. Carey seemed untroubled by the sloppy conditions or the menacing presence of Kirscke. Carey’s passes were almost all on target, and those that weren’t seemed to find their way into the hands of the Griffins’ sure-handed receivers.

“Actually, we wanted to know the ball (in these conditions) because we had the advantage on the defensive backs who had to backpedal in that stuff,” Carey said.

Carey finished the half with 133 yards on eight of 15 passing with touchdowns of 26, 16 and 21 yards to Sagen.

Sagen, Orange County’s second-leading receiver coming into the game, had five receptions for 86 yards in the first half.

Perhaps the best catch of the game went to Don Ruberio, whose 31-yard, over-the-head reception bailed Los Alamitos out of a third-and-10 situation at its own 39.

On the next play. Carey hit Sagen on an inside slant pattern for a 16-yard, over-the-head reception bailed Los Alamitos out of third-and-10 situation at its own 39.

On the next play, Carey hit Sagen on an inside slant pattern for a 16-yard touchdown that gave Los Alamitos a 14-7 lead with 2:57 left in the first quarter.

Moments later, Los Alamitos linebacker Marc Albert picked up a fumbled handoff by Esperanza quarterback Garrett Campbell and raced 50 yards for a touchdown.

The backbreaker came on Marchant Wright’s 67-yard touchdown run on a perfectly executed draw with 1:28 left in the third quarter that gave Los Alamitos a 34-14 lead.

Esperanza scored its touchdowns on a six-yard shovel pass from Campbell to Jason Geottsche and a 55-yard interception return by linebacker Travis McCullough.

Uncharacteristically, the Aztecs’ passing game was more effective than their rushing attack. By halftime, they had rushed for 63 yards and passed for 106.

“We got behind and the conditions were not ideal for our kind of offense,” Meek said. “They got up on us and it was tough for us to come back with runs. We had to pass.”

* GOLDEN RECEIVER

Single-coverage resulted in a big night for Los Alamitos wideout George Sagen. C14