Los Alamitos Survives in 2 OTs

Los Alamitos Coach John Barnes was in a somber mood after his Griffins beat Fontana, 30-22, in double overtime at Cerritos Gahr High.

“We’re in trouble,” Barnes said of his Griffins (9-2), who will play Mater Dei in a Division I second-round game next week.

Serious injuries to running back Ryan Godfrey (knee) and defensive back Trevor Hartley (broken collarbone) took much of the luster off the victory, in which the Los Alamitos defense carried the load in regulation before the offense came through in overtime.

Fontana (6-5) had the first shot in the tiebreaker and broke the 14-14 tie when Scott Shepard passed nine yards to Andrae Perry for a score.

Fontana set up in kick formation for the conversion, but Shepard, who was the holder, rolled out and passed to Brian Binks for two points and a 22-14 advantage.

Los Alamitos came back behind Zach Blazek (11 of 17, 97 yards), who passed for 2,534 yards in the regular season.

Blazek passed three yards to Keenan Howry for a touchdown and went to Howry again for the tying conversion.

The Griffins opened up on offense in the second overtime, and Blazek went to Blair Havens for a seven-yard touchdown before passing to Howry for the two-point conversion and the lead, 30-22.

The Steelers’ Cameron Spence went up the middle on Fontana’s first play and fumbled at the 1. Sagan Atuatasi recovered in the end zone for the Griffins, clinching the victory.

“We had to go for two the first time because they had,” Barnes said. “But we were going for two anyway. We’re beat up and we didn’t want to be here all night.”

Los Alamitos had to come from behind twice in regulation. An eight-minute Fontana drive in the first quarter ended in a 6-yard scoring run by Perry for a 7-0 Steeler lead.

The Griffins tied the score early in the second quarter on Godfrey’s 27-yard touchdown run.

Fontana regained the lead on the opening play of the fourth quarter on Perry’s 61-yard run down the right sideline. Los Alamitos tied the score, 14-14, when 308-pound lineman-turned-running back Bernard Riley went through the middle on fourth-and-goal from the Fontana 1 and Mike Hill converted with 2:32 to go.