Los Alamitos Beats Barons

For the first half of Fountain Valley’s Sunset League game with Los Alamitos Thursday, a vacancy sign could have hung over the Los Alamitos defense.

But the same unit that was pushed up and down the field at Huntington Beach High for 281 yards and three touchdowns in a half was the difference in the second half as fifth-ranked Los Alamitos won, 31-21.

The defense gave up no points and 104 yards in the second half.

“We’re pretty decimated on defense,” Los Alamitos Coach John Barnes said. “We’re not that good on defense but I’m proud of our defense. They played their butts off in the second half.”

As for any amazing halftime adjustments, Barnes said none were made.

“Sometimes your kids just catch up,” he said. “Plus, I think our kids settled down.”

The 10-point difference in the game can be traced to two of the three first-half turnovers by Fountain Valley (4-3, 1-1).

The only score of the second half came on a two-yard dive up the middle by Los Alamitos quarterback Sean Stein with about three minutes left in the third quarter.

Stein had set up the score with a 36-yard pass completion to wide receiver Chris Millard, who came back a step and went up high to catch the pass.

After that, Fountain Valley had a long drive that reached the Los Alamitos 29 before things started to go wrong.

John Sanders (114 yards in 14 carries) broke a 10-yard run but Fountain Valley was called for holding at the end of the play so the ball returned to the 29.

Another penalty backed the ball up five more yards, then it went another 15 back when the Barons’ sideline was called for unsportsmanlike conduct while complaining about the officials’ failure to call pass interference.

Fountain Valley (4-3, 1-1) finally turned the ball over on downs with 5 minutes 27 seconds left. The Barons got the ball once more but with only about two minutes left.

Fountain Valley, which had rushed for 218 yards and scored 30 points in the fourth quarter of a 42-14 victory over Marina last week, seemed to pick that pace right up. The Barons started this game by going 80 yards in 13 plays taking a 7-0 lead when Andrew Medley (16 carries for 97 yards) scored on a two-yard run.

Los Alamitos’ no-huddle offense needed only six plays and 1:10 to tie it when Roy Roberts (13 carries, 91 yards) scored on a three-yard run.

Roberts put Los Alamitos up, 14-7, on a 11-yard run and the lead went to 17-7, when Mike Philips made a 33-yard field goal with 1:42 left in the first quarter.

Roberts’ 11-yard touchdown run was set up when Ife Ohalete recovered a fumble. Ohalete also had an interception to set up the field goal.

Fountain Valley managed to hang on to the ball on its next two possessions and got another two-yard scoring run by Medley and 12-yard scoring pass from quarterback Mike Lamar to a wide-open Mike Wilcox. The score, with 7:18 left, put Fountain Valley up, 21-17.

Los Alamitos took the lead for good with some more rapid-fire offense, scoring on a 59-second drive completed by a 16-yards pass from Stein (22 of 38 for 252 yards) to Ryan Dunbar.