EMPIRE LEAGUE FOOTBALL : Wright and Carey Propel Los Alamitos Past Cypress

Marchant Wright scored two touchdowns and quarterback Tim Carey and moved into the record books as Los Alamitos defeated Cypress, 35-0, in an Empire League football game Thursday night at Western High.

Carey passed for 257 yards, giving him 4,972 career passing yards and moving him past Kennedy’s Mark Larsen into ninth place on the all-time Orange County chart. His two touchdown passes gave him 26 for the season, breaking the school record of 24 set by J.T. Snow.

It was the top-ranked Griffins’ fifth shutout in their last six games. The victory also gave Coach John Barnes his first undefeated regular-season in 14 years at the school. They enter the playoffs next week as the defending Southern Section Division II champion.

Finishing 10-0 “feels pretty nice,” Barnes said after the game. “We’ve played the big games well when we had to and our defense keeps getting better. That’s what saved us tonight.”

Wright put Los Alamitos ahead, 7-0, on a 17-yard run with 8 minutes, 15 seconds left in the first quarter. He also scored on a four-yard run, and ran for the point-after to give Los Alamitos a 22-0 lead with 7:02 remaining in the third quarter. He carried 24 times for 137 of the Griffins’ 182 yards rushing.

Said Wright: “My line did a great job blocking on the run and our defense was outstanding.”

Carey completed a 30-yard pass to Brad Melsby with 4:52 left in the first quarter and a seven-yard pass to George Sagen with 19 seconds remaining in the third quarter. He completed 13 of 18 attempts for 257 yards and one interception.