San Fernando Plays With Fire Once Too Often : High school football: Tigers stage customary furious fourth-quarter rally, but fall short against Westchester, 22-20.

Last year, the Grand Canyon. Last week, the Marianas Trench. Next week, who knows?

Quarterback Leon Blunt is calling a spade a spade when he says that there’s no shovel big enough to consistently dig San Fernando High out of all these holes.

“We’re in the same situation every time,” Blunt said. “We’ve got to get on that game plan from the beginning.”

Keeping completely in character, San Fernando fell behind Wednesday, mounted a frenetic rally and made it a nail-biter. This time, however, the Tigers lost a nonleague game to Westchester, 22-20.

Blunt, a returning All-City Section selection, led the Tigers (1-1) last week to a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns as San Fernando edged Fremont, 19-14. Last year, he rallied the team from halftime deficits of 14 and 21 points to eke out victories.

Once again, deja vu . Minus the happy ending.

Westchester (2-0) took a 22-7 lead when quarterback Seka Edwards fired a 13-yard scoring pass to Tony Griffin with 9 minutes 14 seconds to play. Had Edwards’ pass on the two-point conversation attempt not fallen incomplete, it would have been all but over.

A pulse registered, but barely.

San Fernando, again, rallied from the dead. On the ensuing possession, Blunt hit receiver Flip Aguilar for a 34-yard gain on a third-and-28 play, then scored on a 10-yard scramble around right end as San Fernando cut the lead to 22-14 with 6:37 left.

Three plays into its next possession, Westchester turned the ball over when Kaaron Conwright fumbled a flanker reverse and Tiger defensive end Jerome Elliot recovered at the San Fernando 40.

Nine plays later, Aguilar barged in from the four-yard line out of wishbone formation to pare the lead to two points with 3:12 left. Blunt was pressured in the pocket on the two-point conversion try, however, and his pass fell incomplete.

Thereafter, it was in the defense’s hands. With two minutes to play, Jermaine Lewis broke through a slew of wanna-be Tiger tacklers for a gain of six yards on a third-and-five play at the Westchester 40. The Comets then killed most of the clock and didn’t punt until only eight seconds remained.

“We fizzled out,” San Fernando Coach Sean Blunt said. “You’ve got to have the people to make the big plays. We needed that play bad and got burned.

“We made good penetration, got our hands on him and he got away.”

So did the game.

With two seconds left and the ball at the 50, Blunt--who passed for 91 yards and rushed for a team-high 57--heaved a desperation pass toward Aguilar at the goal line, but it was batted down.

“It always seems, even when we dig ourselves in a hole, we’re still in a position to win,” said Sean Blunt, the quarterback’s cousin. “We could have won this game too.”

San Fernando crossed midfield three times in its first four possessions, but scored only once. Twice, snaps were centered over Blunt’s head in shotgun formation. San Fernando also lost 22 yards when a Blunt pitchout was wide, killing one of the drives.

“If we can put it all together, we’ll be in great shape,” the coach said.

If they put two halves together, it might mean a blowout victory.