ORANGE COUNTY HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PREP EXTRA : Pacifica Has Enough to Beat Westminster, 26-10

There was some debate in the Pacifica High camp as to whether the Mariners ran out of gas in the fourth quarter Friday night.

Coach Bill Craven thought so. Standout running back Chase Hamm said no.

The point was really moot. By the time the final 12 minutes rolled around, Pacifica had a commanding lead and held on for a 26-10 nonleague victory in front of about 800.

Pacifica, on the strength of Hamm’s running and pass catching, ran up a 26-point advantage before surrendering Westminster’s first points after a bad snap on a punt attempt from their two-yard line with eight minutes 10 seconds to play.

Westminster (2-1) capitalized on the miscue and marched 49 yards on four plays for its only touchdown, then added a two-point conversion.,

“I thought that getting tired would be their downfall,” Craven said. “We saw them last week and they looked really tired in the fourth quarter. But tonight, hell, we ran out of gas.”

Hamm, who scored three times, rushed for 94 yards in 14 carries and caught two passes for 53 yards and another score. He raced 39 yards with an A.J. Stern pass with 2:15 to go in the first quarter, giving Pacifica (2-1) a 7-0 lead. Five minutes later he scored from the two-yard line, and although the extra point attempt failed, Pacifica led, 13-0.

Hamm’s third score, sandwiched around a 31-yard scoring pass from Stern to flanker Geof Gilpin late in the second quarter, was a beautiful run up the middle of the Westminster defense from the Lion 34. That play came with 1:49 to go in the third quarter. For all intents and purposes, that play put Westminster too far behind to catch up.

“I don’t think we were tired in that fourth quarter,” Hamm said. “We have a lot of injuries and we just had to work some thing out. We made some adjustments late in the quarter and everything went fine.”

Westminster Coach Stan Clark was stoic about the loss. Clark figured Pacifica would shut down the Lions’ running game. And that was true.

The Lions gained 67 yards on the ground, but at the half, they had netted minus 10 yards under a fierce rush from the Mariners.

About the only thing Clark saw that he liked was the passing of quarterback Manual Tapia. Tapia, who struggled in his first two games, completed 14 of 21 passes for 179 yards and a touchdown. His favorite targets were Ralphie Flores (seven catches, 79 yards, one touchdown) and Davie Kurien (six catches, 75 yards).