Los Alamitos Wins Again but Defense Finally Falters

The defense is revered, but when it counted Thursday night at Veterans Stadium, Mike Good and Brad Melsby showed that top-ranked Los Alamitos has an offense, too.

Good threw for a school-record six touchdowns--four to Melsby--to lead the unbeaten Griffins to an interesting 48-26 nonleague victory over Palmdale (0-4).

“I never thought we would score 48 points and need every point,” Los Alamitos Coach John Barnes said after his team extended its unbeaten streak to 25 games. “This was a great thing for us. We got off quick and then their good play forced us into some mistakes.”

What it did was make the Griffins (4-0) work for a victory--finally. After holding a 128-0 scoring advantage in its first three games, Los Alamitos looked as if it was well on its way to another blowout, taking a 28-0 lead with 9 minutes 25 seconds left in the first half. Good had four touchdown passes, of 24, 24, 17 and 65 yards. The latter three went to Melsby, a junior who said this was the greatest game of his two-year varsity career. He entered the game with 13 receptions for 169 yards. Thursday he had 11 for 248.

“Melsby’s about the best receiver around,” Barnes said.

He looked it, hauling in catches over his shoulder and splitting secondaries over the middle.

But after the early lead, the Falcons got testy. Johnnie Gillespie, who scored three times Thursday, returned the kickoff 45 yards to the Griffin 43. A play later, Rocque Sandoval found Ted Mondragon behind the secondary for a 40-yard scoring play. In the fourth game of the season, with 8:26 left in the first half, the Griffins finally were scored on.

Palmdale, an athletic team, came right back moments later. Getting the ball after Good’s only interception of the night, a 32-yard scoring drive ended when Sandoval passed five yards to Gillespie. That made the score 28-12, and Good survived a scare late in the half when a screen pass was nearly intercepted. It would have been returned for a touchdown. And it wasn’t the only one. On Los Alamitos’ opening drive of the second half, another possible interception was dropped, and there appeared to be smooth sailing ahead.

“It was just an OK night,” said Good, who completed 19 of 35 passes. “I could have been a lot better.”

He added two more scoring passes in the second half, 19 yards to Melsby, and 24 yards to Tony Hartley, who opened the scoring with a 24-yard touchdown reception.

“People are always talking about our defense, and they definitely deserve it,” Good said, “but our offense is pretty balanced too.”