Aliso Niguel Runs Through South Hills

What better time for a team that calls itself the Wolverines and marches to the Michigan fight song to play Big Ten football?

That was the case Friday night at Aliso Niguel High, where the top-seeded Wolverines, in only their fourth year, ground out a 24-3 victory over visiting West Covina South Hills in the semifinals of the Southern Section Division VIII playoffs.

Aliso Niguel (13-0) will play the winner of tonight’s other semifinal game between Garden Grove League rivals Rancho Alamitos and Pacifica.

The Wolverines kept to the ground most of the evening, attempting only four passes and completing two for a total of 10 yards.

Scott Nemeth rushed for 125 yards and a touchdown in 18 carries. Trent Perley added 63 yards in 12 carries, and quarterback Wes Thomas gained 52 yards, mostly on quarterback option sprint-outs in the first half as the Wolverines built a 10-0 lead.

True, Aliso Niguel has played this kind of football all season long. But Friday night their game was tailor-made for their home field, which by the fairest of terms was a quagmire, barely suitable for a playoff game.

South Hills Coach Steve Bogan was not happy with the muddy field conditions, but stopped short of saying he would not play the game balked when he showed up Friday night.

“Aliso Niguel told me this field wasn’t as bad as it is,” Bogan said. “They’re a good football team, don’t take anything away from them, but I would love to have played them on a dry field. This place is slop.”

South Hills (12-1) couldn’t get its game going. Quarterback Ryan Smith completed 12 of 19 passes for 113 yards. However, he had a pass intercepted with 5 minutes 53 seconds left in the game that defensive back John Hefty returned 30 yards for a score.

The Huskies, under relentless defensive pressure from the Wolverines, who stunted and blitzed the entire game, netted only 22 yards on the ground. Led by defensive tackle David Seale, Aliso Niguel sacked Smith 11 times and dropped other ballcarriers for losses four times.

Seale, caked with mud at game’s end, said the Wolverine game plan was designed to put pressure on South Hills.

“We just came at them and the defensive backs weren’t supposed to give up big plays,” he said.

Seale also agreed the field conditions gave the Wolverines an advantage.

“We are used to this because we practice on it,” he said.

Nemeth agreed.

“This field wasn’t made up right. It has a bed of clay and it doesn’t drain well,” he said. “But both teams had to play on it.”

A 25-yard field goal by David Waltzman gave Aliso Niguel a 3-0 lead late in the first quarter.

The next time the Wolverines touched the ball, they marched 54 yards in nine plays for a score. Nemeth gained 48 yards on the drive and Perley plunged over from the one-yard line with 7:45 left before halftime.

South Hills got on the board with a 24-yard field goal from Kurtis Lepper with 3:58 left in the third quarter.

Nemeth’s three-yard run early in the fourth quarter culminated a 12-play, 64-yard drive, and later Hefty’s interception put the game away.