HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL PLAYOFFS / SOUTHERN SECTION SEMIFINALS : Corona del Mar Fumbles Chance at Championship : Division V: Late miscue by quarterback Walz helps Servite pick up 21-16 victory and berth in title game.

Football Coach Larry Toner was the first person in Servite’s postgame greeting line. Corona del Mar quarterback Josh Walz was the last person in his. And when they met, they spent a good long time together.

Toner put his arm around Walz and had a few moments with the quarterback who scared him so much.

He told him that he had nothing to be ashamed of and everything to be proud of.

Easy words for Toner to say--his team is going to the Southern Section finals, after defeating Corona del Mar, 21-16, in the Division V semifinal game at Cal State Fullerton.

A fumbled snap to Walz at the two-yard line with 1 minute 53 seconds ended the Sea Kings’ hopes of going to the title game for the first time since 1988.

Instead, Servite will try to make amends for last year’s championship loss to Newport Harbor.

The Friars (11-2) got a 73-yard touchdown pass from Greg Cicero to Vince Reed with 5:55 left, completing their come-from-behind victory.

Cicero had a huge night, completing seven of 13 passes for 212 yards. The pass to Reed broke the school record for touchdowns in a season. Cicero has 26, one more than Tim Rosenkranz (1985).

Despite Cicero’s big play to Reed, everyone knew the biggest play of all was the fumbled snap.

On first-and-goal from the two, Walz was bound for the end zone. He ended up in the end zone, in fact. He just didn’t have the ball.

Instead, junior David Graham, a 5-foot-5 defensive tackle, grabbed the ball and the ball game.

The biggest play of his life?

“By far,” Graham said. “The biggest ever.”

And when you had the ball, what went through your mind?

“We’re going to the championship.”

Indeed they are.

“It’s an awesome thing to go back again,” Cicero said. “This is what you play for. It’s not league. It’s not preseason. It’s the final game.”

The Servite defense made its share of crucial plays, twice stopping Corona del Mar from the one-yard line in the first half, and getting a third-quarter interception in the end zone by Damien Salerno while the Sea Kings were on the 12-yard line. That pass, intended for Darren MacDonald, was deflected by the defender and prevented the Sea Kings from taking a 21-14 lead.

Corona del Mar (9-4) took a 7-6 lead on a 16-yard run by Tom O’Meara (26 carries for 139 yards), and a 14-6 lead on a three-yard score by Walz (eight for 84).

Reed also rushed for two touchdowns, a two- and one-yarder. After the second, Cicero passed to Stephan Ward for a two-point conversion to tie the score at 14-14.

Reed was all alone on the 73-yarder. Matt Montgomery, who missed a 31-yard field goal and a point-after, made it 21-14.

“[Corona del Mar’s defense] did a good job of changing things up the whole game,” Cicero said, “and we finally caught them.”

After Graham recovered the Walz fumble, Servite’s offense did little with the ball. Finally, on fourth and five from the seven-yard-line, Cicero scrambled to the back of the end zone for a safety.

Corona del Mar had two plays left. Walz scrambled for 12 yards, and from the Servite 33 with 10 seconds to go, his pass to Ryan Burns in the end zone was intercepted by John Hall.