Pacifica Does It With Defense, Tough Run

Pacifica came into Friday night’s Southern Section Division VIII first-round game against Sunny Hills intent on trying to stop the Lancers’ potent running attack.

The Mariners did that, holding Sunny Hills to 10 yards rushing in the first half, but they still needed some last-minute magic to secure a 17-13 victory at Buena Park High.

Frankie Morieda capped an eight-play, 47-yard drive by breaking four tackles on an 11-yard touchdown run with 1 minute 19 seconds remaining in the game.

Brent Kirkland passed for 155 yards and a touchdown for Pacifica (7-2-2), which will face Laguna Hills in the second round. The game will be a rematch of last season’s opening-round matchup.

Jared Bruce passed for 98 yards and a touchdown for Sunny Hills, which ends its season 8-2-1.

The Lancers entered the contest with a running game that had dominated Freeway League opponents, but that attack was stifled in the first half by Pacifica and limited to only 77 yards in the game.

“We didn’t do a lot of things really fancy,” Pacifica Coach Bill Craven said. “We just tried to slant our linebackers in and make sure we didn’t miss tackles.”

Pacifica opened the scoring with a 26-yard Brent Weber field goal, but Sunny Hills responded when Bruce scampered in from one yard out after a Kevin Haiola interception. Pacifica retook the lead on the next series as Kirkland connected with Eric Ruegger on an 11-yard pass.

But the Lancers came back again in the third quarter when David Goodloe caught Bruce’s pass despite good coverage by Weber. The extra point failed and Pacifica trailed, 13-10.