Capistrano Valley Falls Short, 13-7 : High school football: Last-second touchdown try from Gaines is incomplete against Honolulu St. Louis.

Sam Gaines’ 55-yard pass to the end zone on the final play fell incomplete and ended a night of frustration for Capistrano Valley.

The Cougars, the top-ranked team in Orange County, had several chances to win but instead lost to Hawaii’s top-ranked team, Honolulu St. Louis, 13-7, Thursday night in Aloha Stadium.

St. Louis (2-0) opened a 13-0 lead in the first half but needed two interceptions and a fumble recovery to hold off Capistrano Valley in the second half.

Gaines, a highly touted senior quarterback, completed 12 of 24 pass attempts for 176 yards but was intercepted twice and fumbled once.

“You saw a lot of first-game jitters . . . fumbled snaps, interceptions and missed tackles tonight,” Capistrano Valley Coach Eric Patton said. “You can’t make mistakes against a class team like St. Louis and expect to win.”

Still, Capistrano Valley’s chances of winning looked good in the second half after St. Louis’ star running back, Chris Fuamatu-Maafula, was sidelined with a bruised left knee just before halftime.

Fuamatu-Maafula rushed for 117 yards in nine carries in the first half.

“He was unstoppable,” Patton said. “We wouldn’t have been in the game in the second half if he was still playing. Still, I thought our defense did a great job against the No. 20 team in the nation (according to USA Today) and Dan Geiss ran the ball well.”

Geiss, the most valuable player in the South Coast League as a junior, had 113 yards in 23 carries and appeared to get stronger as the game progressed. He scored Capistrano Valley’s touchdown with 14 seconds remaining in the third quarter to trim St. Louis’ lead to 13-7.

Unfortunately, Gaines self-destructed on the Cougars’ next series. He threw his second interception of the game. St. Louis’ Joseph Mendonsa intercepted on the Cougars’ 35 and returned it 34 yards to the one.

The Cougars got a big break when defensive back P.J. Deschamps recovered a fumble at the goal line and Gaines got the Cougars driving with two passes to Levi Roquemore.

On the final play of the game, Gaines lofted a desperation pass to wide receiver Sepher Fallah in the end zone. Fallah appeared to have possession of the pass momentarily but then lost control as time expired.

“We made a nice goal-line stand but then we couldn’t capitalize,” Patton said. “They’re a quality team, and considering this was our first game, I thought we played pretty well.”