Bloomington High Is Back but Without High Scores : Prep football: One year after setting national record, the Bruins play La Mirada again in playoffs after often scratching for points this season.

What a difference a season makes.

Last year, Bloomington High’s football team was the talk of the Southland as it set a national single-season scoring record with 880 points. The Bruins, 1-9 in 1993, finished 14-0 after defeating La Mirada, 48-32, in the Southern Section Division VIII championship game.

The teams meet again tonight in a quarterfinal matchup at Colton High, but Bloomington arrives with a 6-5 record after barely qualifying for the playoffs as the third entry from the Sunkist League. It has scored 298 points and was held to a touchdown in two of its losses.

“We definitely don’t have the kind of talent we had last season,” said Bloomington Coach Don Markham, who runs a double-wing offense. “Last year, we were so far ahead of everybody else in our division that we were able to score a lot of points. This year, we’re much more evenly matched. If we go all the way, our scores will be a lot closer.”

Markham carried only 18 players on the varsity last season, but two of them, running backs Greg Oliver and Cheyane Caldwell, were top college prospects. There are 25 players on this year’s team, but no big stars. And injuries have also been a problem.

A key loss was that of Mike Abril, a returning all-league center, who went out because of a knee injury in September. Even the team’s top running back, John Luna, was not at full strength for several weeks because of a sprained ankle.

“I could give the ball to Cheyane last season and he would get four or five yards even if the line didn’t block for him,” Markham said. “That’s not the case now. Our guys work hard, they’re just not as big and strong.”

The Bruins seem to be peaking at the right time, however. They have won four games in a row, including a 20-18 victory over San Marino in the opening round of the playoffs last week.

Tonight’s game should be tougher than it was a year ago. La Mirada is the second-seeded team in the division with a 9-1-1 record and is on a seven-game winning streak. It defeated Costa Mesa Estancia, 16-14, last week.

In other quarterfinal action tonight, Santa Ana Mater Dei (10-1) and Los Alamitos (10-1) meet in a Division I battle at Veterans Stadium in Long Beach.

The game is a rematch of last year’s semifinal, which Mater Dei won, 28-24, ending Los Alamitos’ 47-game winning streak.

“In the back of my mind, I knew we would play them again this year,” said Los Alamitos receiver Tony Hartley. “I wanted to play them again.”

Hartley enters the game with 72 receptions for 1,386 yards, two yards shy of the Orange County single-season record. His teammate, Stan Guyness, has caught 37 passes for 882 yards.

“By far as good a tandem as I’ve ever seen,” Mater Dei Coach Bruce Rollinson said of the receivers. “A couple of quick moves, then they just explode.”

In another Division I contest, second-seeded Long Beach Poly (11-0) will take on Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley without one of its top players. Running back-linebacker Akka-Ar Moses recently suffered a knee injury and is likely lost for the season.

Other key games tonight include Loyola (9-2) at top-seeded Fontana (11-0) in Division I, Newbury Park (11-0) vs. Chino Hills Ayala (10-1) at Chino High in Division III and Hacienda Heights Los Altos (10-1) vs. Rancho Cucamonga (9- 2) at Chaffey College in Division VI. Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. for all games.