Prep SCOREBOARD : HOW TOP 10 FARED

1. Esperanza (7-1) lost to Los Alamitos (8-0), 34-14. 2. Los Alamitos (8-0) beat Esperanza (7-1), 34-14. 3. Rancho Alamitos (7-1) beat La Quinta (1-7), 42-8. 4. Servite (7-0-1) beat Huntington Beach (4-4), 36-17. 5. Irvine (6-1) beat Saddleback (3-5), 33-0. 6. Mater Dei (6-1-1) lost to Dana Hills (3-4), 13-12. 7. Santa Margarita (7-1) beat Tustin (3-5), 35-21. 8. Sunny Hills (7-1) beat Sonora (3-5), 33-0. 9. Trabuco Hills (7-1) beat Costa Mesa (3-5), 34-24, Thursday. 10. El Dorado (7-1) beat Loara (0-8), 30-13, Thursday.

TOP PERFORMERS

Anaheim tailback Che Garcia rushed for 184 yards in 18 carries and scored two touchdowns as the Colonists beat Valencia, 31-0, in a battle for first place in the Orange League.

Wade Tift rushed for 167 yards and two touchdowns in 17 carries for Newport Harbor, which defeated Woodbridge, 18-7, in a Sea View League game. Tift scored on runs of 50 and 57 yards.

Servite’s Steve Correa scored 18 of the Friars’ 24 second-half points in a 36-17 Sunset League victory over Huntington Beach. Correa was on the receiving end of two touchdown passes from Eric Hannah, made two receptions for two-point conversions and ran for a two-pointer. He caught three passes for 112 yards.

LATE HEROICS

Jose Mata scored Santa Ana’s winning touchdown on a 15-yard pass from Mark Fausto with 6:14 left in the fourth quarter and intercepted a pass by Ocean View quarterback Fred Brown in the final two seconds in the Saints’ 20-17 victory.

SHOWDOWNS

Esperanza’s heralded defense had allowed only 17 points in seven previous games, but Los Alamitos receiver George Sagen did what seven previous opponents failed to do. Sagen scored three touchdowns in the first half alone as second-ranked Los Alamitos breezed to a 34-14 Empire League victory over the top-ranked Aztecs.

NOTEWORTHY

Esperanza has lost only twice in last 37 games and both setbacks have come against Los Alamitos. The Griffins beat Esperanza, 8-0, in last year’s Southern Section Division III title game, ending the Aztecs’ 27-game winning streak at the time, and knocked off Esperanza again Friday night, 34-14, in a battle of unbeatens. Los Alamitos has also beaten Esperanza in three of the last four meetings at Valencia High.

Anaheim, which lost to Valencia, 43-6, last season, returned the favor this year with a 31-0 victory, the Colonists’ first victory over the Tigers since the schools entered the Orange League in 1981.

ON THE RECORD

‘I heard (Esperanza Coach) Gary Meek say on television last night that this game was so big, they’d play it in the streets. Maybe we should play in the street instead of on this field.’

--John Barnes, Los Alamitos coach, on the muddy conditions at Valencia High School for the Griffins’ 34-14 victory over Esperanza.