PREP FOOTBALL ROUNDUP : El Dorado Wins, Earns Share of the League Title

Ismail Abdullah scored two second-half touchdowns as El Dorado gained a share of the Empire League championship with a 17-3 victory over Loara Saturday night at Valencia High.

With the victory, El Dorado (6-4, 4-1) tied Century for the league title. Century will receive the league’s top seeding in the Division V playoffs by virtue of its 6-3 victory over El Dorado.

Kennedy will receive the third playoff berth, but Loara (4-6, 3-2) must wait to see if it receives a wild-card berth.

Abdullah broke a 3-3 halftime tie by scoring on a four-yard run with 3 minutes 7 seconds left in the third quarter, giving the Golden Hawks a 10-3 lead.

Abdullah then clinched the game in the fourth quarter. He fielded a punt at Loara’s 44, weaved through coverage and scored with 6:42 left.

El Dorado outgained Loara, 252 yards to 138. Abdullah led the Golden Hawks with 97 yards in 13 carries, and David Myers added 95 in 18 carries. John Duhon led Loara with 90 yards in 17 carries.

The Golden Hawks’ defense sacked Loara quarterback Jim Kirkland five times, including four by Mike McAdam.

In a Sea View League game:

Santa Margarita 21, Irvine 18--Host Irvine not only lost its the Sea View League finale, but the three-time defending Southern Section champions also lost a coin flip with El Toro immediately after the game to determine the league’s third-place representative in the playoffs.

Irvine (4-5-1, 2-2-1) finished in a tie for third with El Toro (5-4-1, 2-2-1).

But the Chargers will advance to the playoffs. Irvine, because it has an overall record under .500, will not be considered for an at-large berth.

Santa Margarita (5-5, 2-3) broke the game open when David Munoz scored a 17-yard touchdown run with 7:10 remaining for a 21-10 lead.

Irvine closed the gap to 21-18 when quarterback Scott Larsen completed a five-yard touchdown pass to Zubin Irani with 44 seconds left. Larsen then hit Mike Snyder for a two-point conversion.

But Irvine was unable to recover the on-side kick.

Santa Margarita took an early 6-0 lead on a two-yard touchdown run by Billy Newman with 3:47 left in the first quarter. The kick failed.

In a Century League game:

Villa Park 27, Santa Ana Valley 8--The Spartans (9-1,4-1) warmed up for next week’s playoffs behind Tony D’Amato’s running and the arm of quarterback Sean McMahon.

D’Amato started in place of Franklin Haynes, the team’s leading rusher who did not play for disciplinary reasons.

D’Amato, a senior, responded by gaining 101 yards in 12 carries and scoring two touchdowns. The first, a two-yard run in the second quarter, gave Villa Park a 7-0 lead. D’Amato also caught a seven-yard pass from McMahon in the third quarter.

McMahon completed 10 of 15 passes for 160 yards and two touchdowns. His second, a five-yard pass to Kris Fisher, closed out the Spartans’ scoring early in the fourth quarter.

Santa Ana Valley (3-7, 1-4) scored its only points on a 49-yard pass from reserve quarterback Ricky Chavez to Adrian Buenrostro. The pair also connected on the two-point conversion.

Villa Park’s defense held the Falcons in check most of the game limiting them to 63 yards in the first half. Chavez completed 11 of 25 passes for 175 yards.

In a nonleague game:

North Hollywood Harvard-Westlake 46, La Quinta 7--La Quinta (1-9), which gained only 131 total yards, was paced by Tony Tran, who gained 37 yards in eight carries. Tran had a two-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to avoid the shutout.

Quarterback Jason Gondringer completed five of 12 passes for 78 yards and one interception. Harvard-Westlake took a 26-0 lead in the first quarter, then added another touchdown in the second quarter.

The Wolverines (8-1-1) entered the game ranked No. 3 in the Southern Section Division IX poll.