Los Amigos Grinds Out Victory

For all the world, Pacifica looked liked it was destined to beat Los Amigos again. It wasn’t outplaying Los Amigos, but the Mariners were getting the bounces, the big plays and they appeared to have the momentum.

When Los Amigos running back Najja Kee fumbled midway through the third quarter deep in Pacifica territory, the Lobos had every reason to call it a night. But they refused to accept their destiny and simply gutted out a 23-20 victory Friday at Bolsa Grande High, giving Los Amigos Coach Roger Takahashi one of the biggest victories of his coaching career.

The Lobos weren’t fancy, but they were powerful. Kee, a 5-10, 225-pound junior, ran through, over and around Pacifica’s defense 42 times for 207 yards and Ryan Cleary kicked the game-winning field goal from 36 yards with 5:36 left to play.

When Kee was taking a rest, fullback Shaun Tagatauli was pounding Pacifica’s worn-down defensive line for 122 yards in 17 carries.

The victory keeps Los Amigos (3-2, 2-0) in a tie with Rancho Alamitos for first place in the Garden Grove League. Pacifica dropped to 4-1 and 1-1.

“We’ve been here before but it seems like each time, we’ve let it slip away,” Takahashi said. “We weren’t going to let that happen this year. We didn’t want to have to come from behind [in league]. We know we control our own destiny this year.”

Takahashi said everyone had last year’s painful 16-10 loss to Pacifica on their mind.

“We were haunted by last year’s game,” Takahashi said. “But we weren’t going to panic and abandon our game plan. We were going to execute and power the ball.”

For the first 30 minutes, Los Amigos didn’t execute on defense. Pacifica couldn’t run the ball--it finished with minus three yards rushing--but it scored three times on long pass plays to go up, 20-7.

But once Kee fumbled, Los Amigos’ defense began to turn the momentum. It stopped Pacifica on three downs, setting up a Los Amigos drive dominated by Kee and the offensive line. Kee carried three Pacifica defenders on his back from 10 yards out to close the gap to 20-13.

After an Alex Bedola interception of J.D. Stern at midfield, Los Amigos took it at Pacifica’s defense and scored on a 10 play-drive dominated by Kee. The Lobo defense turned the ball over to their offense minutes later when defensive end John Elsaesser stripped Stern and Robert Gleason fell on the ball.

Los Amigos drove from its 36 to the Pacifica 19, setting up Cleary’s game-winner.